A proposal to purchase a portion of the Missouri Valley Fairgrounds is uncertain as some Burleigh County commissioners are in opposition to the buyer's planned use of the property.

Meeting Monday as the park board, Burleigh commissioners failed to endorse the sale, and they reconvened as the county commission and tabled the issue in an effort to gather more public comment on the sale.

For an unnamed buyer, Realtor Chuck Huber made an offer of $525,000 for two parcels of the four the county is willing to part with. But the offer included having the property zoned MA-light industrial and the county bringing in water and sewer utilities. Huber said the buyer is looking at selling aggregate and ready mix cement, along with some rock crushing.

Burleigh's zoning change request is on today's Bismarck Planning and Zoning Commission agenda, though a hearing will not be held.

Commissioners also are concerned about what it will cost the county to provide the utilities, with city engineering estimating the project at $1.3 million with a county share of $370,000. Commissioners came up with a plan to divide the development cost up among the parcels that are up for sale by adding it to the asking price.

The commission discussed adding $81,500 to the $525,000 it is asking from the interested buyer to help pay for the utilities, but the commissioners took no action. In the meeting as the park board, commissioner Doug Schonert's motion to increase the asking price through a counteroffer died for lack of a second.

Commissioner Marlan Haakenson, who opposes the sale, said he thought it unlikely planning and zoning would recommend the zoning change, because the business would be located at one of the community's gateway entrances. Haakenson also said that the fairground user groups were adamantly opposed to the type of business that's being planned.

Huber maintains the business is well suited for the area, noting that it is surrounded by heavy industrial uses including a railroad, livestock market and the Northern Plains Commerce Centre, which will eventually have a lot of truck traffic.

"It's ideally suited for light industrial. The claim that it is unsightly is unfounded. The closest distance to the fairgrounds is a quarter-mile and most of it is a half-mile away," Huber says. "These people do want to establish a business in our community; if not here, elsewhere."

Because of the other industrial businesses, Huber doesn't think it will be easy to attract commercial businesses to the area. He also doesn't think there are many other interests that would invest an additional $800,000 to provide enough fill to bring the parcels in question out of the flood plain.

Finally, Huber said he has a letter from Bismarck planning department director Carl Hokenstad saying that the planning and zoning commission was looking favorably at changing the zoning to accommodate the new business.

County Commissioner Jim Peluso said he didn't disagree with Haakenson on the issue of the businesses proximity to the fairgrounds. He doesn't think there is much the business could do to make itself attractive next to the fairgrounds.

"I'm stumbling with that right now,"Peluso said. "I don't know if it will devaluate the rest of the property we own. But I have a tendency to agree with Haakenson that it is not a good idea."

With Peluso's statement, Schonert said he wouldn't ask the commission to make a counteroffer, instead making a motion to have the issue tabled until the next meeting in May. In the meantime, the commission asked the public to provide its input on the issue.

Schonert said that if the sale falls through it will push any development of the fairground property that is for sale further into the future. He also pointed out that revenue from a sale would benefit the user groups since the commission would use the money for fairground improvements.

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