Two development companies are asking Bismarck to tax eight lots in the Daybreak 2nd Addition as farmland for 2024, and the City Commission will consider the request Nov. 10, according to the meeting agenda and packet.
Belfield Access Terminal LLC and Bismarck North Developers LLC filed abatement applications on eight parcels in the Daybreak 2nd Addition, along Ridgeland Drive, Yukon Drive and 64th Avenue NE, asking that their 2024 valuations be cut to agricultural value, according to a Finance Department memo in the meeting packet. The memo says the owners "feel the classification as non-agricultural was preemptive, resulting in an undue financial burden."
The parcels total about 44 acres, most of it zoned CG Commercial and two lots zoned RT Residential Light Commercial, according to acreage and zoning figures in the memo.
In an Oct. 8 letter in the packet, the companies say the land was platted Nov. 29, 2022, following a land sale to Fleet Farm that was contingent on a three-party developer agreement among Belfield Access Terminal, Fleet Farm Group LLC and the city. According to the letter, topsoil was not stripped until after May 2023, full public access to the roads was not restored until May 2025, and Fleet Farm's certificate of occupancy was obtained in May 2025. The letter says the developer agreement remains open and that the same parcels were abated to agricultural status for 2023.
Under state law, land platted since March 30, 1981, stops being agricultural property when any four of seven conditions apply, including owner platting, sewer, water or streets in place, disturbed topsoil and non-agricultural zoning, according to the city memo.
City staff split the parcels on when the pipes went in. Engineering records show water and sewer lines were finished in November 2023 for four parcels and in August 2024 for the other four, according to the memo. The Assessing Division recommends denying the 2024 abatement on the four served in 2023, which it says met the four-condition test, and approving it on the other four, with the understanding they meet the test for 2025, the memo says.
Two beer-license transfers also get public hearings, according to the agenda and Administration Department memos: Midway Tavern, 1915 East Sweet Avenue, from Midway Tavern LLC to BHB LLC, and the license at 218 West Front Avenue from Landers Interstate Services Inc. to DBLD Inc., doing business as Frontside. Administration Department memos recommend approving both.
The Bismarck Airport is also asking the commission to consent to the assignment of its Newman Signs billboard lease to Lamar OCI North LLC, which an airport memo says is buying Newman Signs "in the coming weeks." Under the agreement, Newman Signs may place five billboards on airport land in exchange for 16 poster and two vinyl billboards a year for the airport, the memo says.
The meeting starts at 5:15 p.m. in the Tom Baker Meeting Room, 221 N. 5th St., and comments on public hearing items can be emailed to bismarckadmin@bismarcknd.gov by 3:30 p.m. that day, according to the agenda.
Sources: Bismarck City Commission agenda, Nov. 10, 2026; Bismarck City Commission meeting packet, Nov. 10, 2026 (Finance Department abatement memo, pp. 159–161; applicant letter, pp. 162–166; Airport memo on Newman Signs lease, p. 49; Administration Department license transfer memos, pp. 266 and 273).
