Demolishing Flooded Buyout Homes - KXNet - Bismarck/Minot/Williston/Dickinson

Demolishing Flooded Buyout Homes

For close-to one hundred homeowners in Minot, the flood washed away their chances at rebuilding their existing homes.

The city has purchased the homes where future flood control structures may be built, and will either sell off the houses, or demolish them.

City manager David Waind says there are cases where the existing buildings are in good shape and could be moved to new lots.

The city will solicit bids on those houses.

But in many cases, the houses simply need to be torn down to clear the space for future flood control space.

Those demolitions will begin this spring and must be finished by October.

Meanwhile, the city is seeking millions in state funds to purchase many more homes that were put in limbo by the diversion designs included in the flood protection plan.

(David Waind, Minot City Manager) "We know that's more than a couple hundred homes we'd be dealing with. The funding we've gone to the state for is a little over 60 million dollars and we think there's enough funding there to take care of the acquisitions that would be needed and we could get taken care of over the course of the next biennium."

Waind says a legislative committee will be taking up the funding for city buyouts this week in Bismarck.