The Mandan City Commission is counting on the future to provide greater opportunities for industrial development as it compromises on the recently developed master land use plan.

Tuesday, the city commission made some final recommendations for the plan developed by Ulteig Engineers for the Metropolitan Planning Organization. Ulteig's study, which encompassed 200 square miles in the Bismarck-Mandan area, identified areas suitable for various development such as residential, commercial, industrial and public use.

The Mandan City Commission has searched long and hard for property which can be developed for industrial use, land which is in short supply in the vicinity of the city. Ulteig did identify some areas - adjacent the Mandan airport and two sections (13,14) southeast of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Highway 25.

But airport management successfully lobbied that the land near the airport should be greenway, while landowner Esther Vogel, who owns sections 13 and 14, opposed her property being singled out for industrial use.

Vogel argued that her property was far from suitable for industrial development because of the topography featuring steep slopes. She preferred the land be identified as urban residential in the master plan. Vogel also said there was property north of the interstate in sections one and two that were more fitting for industrial use.

The study could have been extended west of Highway 25, as Burleigh and Morton counties had requested earlier this summer, but was turned down by the MPO. City engineer Tom Little said that Mandan's extraterritorial jurisdiction extended just to Highway 25.

Little provided a compromise which identified a strip of Vogel's property along Highway 25 from the Interstate to Highway 10. Also identified was property just north of the interstate extending east from from the Highway 25 interchange.

Vogel said the proposal was a lot closer to desirable, but maintained that most of the property along Highway 25 still wasn't suitable for industrial development because of the steep slopes. She said she prefers a small corner southeast of the interchange of about 37 acres, which originally had been identified as commercial, be designated as industrial.

Mayor Ken LaMont said he didn't agree that the property north of the interstate, which is adjacent to Robbie's Supper Club, be designated industrial, feeling that it was better suited for commercial development.

Commissioner Dan Ulmer explained to Vogel that the plan is only a tool to be used by decision makers in planning and zoning, and that the final determination on land use fell to the action of the city commission.

But Vogel said that as time went by and the commission changed, it would rely on the plan, making it more difficult for her to make a case for residential zoning.

LaMont said that the plan is revisited and updated every five years. In its next version he said he hopes the study area will be enlarged to include property west of the Highway 25 interchange which could fill the city's need for industrial development.

Commissioner Tim Helbling made the motion which concurred with Vogel's suggestion for recommended changes to the plan and Ulmer provided the second. It called for the small portion of Vogel's land to be designated industrial, along with that north of the interstate. LaMont opposed the motion which passed 4-1.

The recommendation will be taken to the MPO policy board meeting scheduled for Sept. 18, at which time the board will likely consider adoption of the master land use plan.

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