What’s up with Highlands Project?
What’s up with Highlands Project?
By Jerry W. Kram
With another construction season getting into full swing, the Parshall City Council is wondering when building is going to start on the Highlands of Parshall Project that will build homes and commercial space on 320 acres of land north of Parshall High School.
Barry Arfa, the main developer of the project, came to the council with two requests, which he prefaced with another sales pitch for the benefits that the project would bring to the region. Arfa asked that the city allocate capacity in its water tower to provide fire protection to the commercial property that is slated to be built on the east side of the project along North Dakota Highway 37. Water for the project will be provided by the Fort Berthold Rural Water system, but it won’t have enough capacity to provide sufficient pressure to fire hydrants. He added that the FBRW has agreed to build a 200,000 gallon tank that would enough to provide fire protection for a hotel complex, but that it won’t be built until June of 2014.
“We have the permits ready to file,” Arfa said. “But we can’t build until we can be sure the fire suppression is in place. If we can’t get capacity in your tank, it could delay building a hotel on the site by a year or more.”
