The Bismarck City Commission's final approval of new downtown zoning led to a lively discussion on its impacts to adjacent neighborhoods at Tuesday's meeting.

The creation of the Downtown Core and Downtown Fringe zones came out of the Community Opportunities and Revitalization Effort committee recommendation. The zones, limited to Bismarck's downtown area, combine the various existing zones into the new zones.

The Downtown Core attempts to foster a certain design and setting of buildings, while the Fringe provides a transition from the Core into adjacent neighborhoods, according to city planner Carl Hokenstad. The city and planning commissions have held hearings on the changes, and Tuesday the new zoning cleared the final hurdle with adoption by the city commission on a 3-1 vote.

Clint Fleckenstein, a homeowner at 12th Street and Rosser Avenue, took the opportunity to question whether the new zoning will promote the spread of commercial endeavors to the nearby residential community.

"The location of my home puts me on the edge of the Downtown Fringe. The previous zoning was medical commercial, I think," Fleckenstein said. "A lot of the people in the neighborhood are concerned. A lot are like me, first-time homebuyers. Are commercial properties going to encroach on our property? Are property values going to go up or down?

"I don't think this particular part of the city has been the subject of a whole lot of planning,"Fleckenstein added. "Remember when 12th Street didn't go all the way to Main? Now it goes all the way to Main and far beyond. Now I live on a superhighway. People are finding it's a shortcut because there aren't many stops."

Fleckenstein also pointed out the street is narrow, and since it's close to the medical facilities, the parking is usually full throughout the day, mainly by employees of the hospitals and clinic. He says the lack of parking will lower property values, and if the new zoning promotes more business, daytime parking for homeowners and renters in the residential area will become nonexistent.

"What if we took parking off one side of 12th?" commissioner Dave Jensen asked.

"That would affect traffic in a positive way, but have a bad impact on parking," Fleckenstein replied. "It's a nightmare going up and down 12th - I'm not saying that I want you to widen it and raise our specials. But there is a need. I wanted to call your attention that we have a two-fold problem."

Hokenstad said he appreciated the comments, adding the discussion had come up in previous meetings.

"We've tried to be very careful. We didn't want to go to far with the commercial zoning changes and want to preserve the residential area adjacent to downtown,"Hokenstad explained. "The zoning changes have been from one type of commercial to another. We're not changing a lot of the residential zoning. Some on the north side of downtown is a little more commercial. We've been very conscious and careful not to intrude on the residential if it can be helped. I know there are difficulties when you have residential next to large institutions, like our medical area."

Keeping the residential areas vital is important and the city wants the Downtown Core compact and walkable, not intending for it to spread out, Hokenstad said.

Commissioner Connie Sprynczynatyk asked that the traffic engineer look into the situation in the area of Rosser and 12th.

Jensen questioned whether there was a violation of zoning ordinances in the medical district. He said the parking is not adequate for the building sizes and that the institutions are required to provide sufficient off-street parking for employees.

Mayor John Warford pointed out the two hospitals have a combined employment of about 4,000 people, making them the second-largest employer in Bismarck.

Jensen said he opposed the new zoning because it promoted renovation of existing businesses rather than tearing down old buildings and putting up new ones.

"What we're going to end up doing is drive everybody in the downtown area out to the surrounding areas," Jensen said. "The businesses left won't be customer-based businesses, but things like insurances, things like that. We're going to lose a a gem of a downtown to something else."

But Warford, Sprynczynatyk and Hill disputed Jensen's reasoning. They pointed out that nothing in the zoning prohibits buildings from being torn down, but it does ask that any renovation be done to certain standards.

(Reach reporter Gordon Weixel at 250-8255 or gordon.weixel@;bismarcktribune.com.)