Jul. 3—JAMESTOWN — A property owner at Lakeshore Road west of Medina is requesting that Stutsman County Road 39 be prioritized as a critical repair project and is seeking funding to get a professional engineering estimate to fix the road.
“I appreciate all the efforts, I truly do, that the county is making in regards to this road but this road is so unpredictable from one day to the next,” Aleshia Emineth said. “You have potholes that just appear.”
The Stutsman County Commission took no action on the request at its meeting on Tuesday, July 1.
Emineth said she contacted Interstate Engineering to see if it is possible to get funding for the road repairs through the North Dakota Flexible Transportation Fund. She said Interstate Engineering told her that Stutsman County would need to pay for its portion in advance and would get reimbursed over a two-year period. She said it will cost about $6,000 for Interstate Engineering to complete an estimate to repair the road.
Emineth said County Road 39 is the sole access road to properties on Lakeshore Road.
She said 75% of the lots on Lakeshore Road have been sold.
“When they took and removed the paved portion of it and turned it into gravel, a comment was made to the community that once we hit 60% of the lots being sold that that would be paved,” she said, adding that nobody knew about that conversation.
Emineth said there is growth in the area at Lakeshore Road. She said there are more than 90 lots in the area and more traffic as a result.
She said property owners in the development paid a combined $35,000 in property taxes in 2022 and $63,000 in 2024.
Joseph Carlblom, Vision Zero community outreach coordinator, said Stutsman County had 11 fatal crashes from 2020 to 2024.
Carlblom told the county commission that 72% of the fatal crashes in Stutsman County happened in daylight and on a straight stretch of road.
He said seven of the fatal crashes involve a driver being 91 years old or older.
Carlblom said Stutsman County has had no fatal crashes in 2025 so far.
The landowners of property adjacent to a bridge located southeast of Ypsilanti are looking to purchase land in the right of way for the Ypsilanti bridge project on 44th Street Southeast.
The total purchase price to acquire the right of way is $16,250, said Daren Peterka, senior project manager and land surveyor with Interstate Engineering.
Peterka said the quit-claim deed needs to be sent to the landowners who are looking to purchase the property.
The bridge project is expected to begin in 2026 but it could start this year with good weather, Peterka said.
Once the bridge project is complete, he said 44th Street Southeast could be used as a detour route when the bridge on 43rd Street Southeast gets replaced.
Parks Superintendent Dylan Kleinjan told the Stutsman County Park Board that Lakeside Campground will open.
He said the campground still needs to be cleaned up following the severe weather on June 20-21. He said rakes were donated that campers can use to clean smaller tree debris in their areas.
Kleinjan said Parkhurst Campground needs to be cleaned up as well. He said Parkhurst has not been mowed since the severe weather and trees are everywhere.