BISMARCK -- State officials will meet this week to map out the timeline for the planning and construction of a new governor’s residence, which was given the green light last month by lawmakers.
The Capitol Grounds Planning Commission will meet at 1 p.m. Thursday inside the state Capitol to review projects for the 2015-17 biennium. Chief among them will be setting the timeline for the new residence’s construction, which the head of facility management says he’d like to see completed by Thanksgiving 2017.
“Twenty months would be aggressive for a high-end home, (but) that’d be a good goal,” state facilities management director John Boyle said.
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To meet the deadline, Boyle said construction would need to begin in spring 2016.
Senate Bill 2304 authorized $4 million from the state’s Capitol Building Fund and $1 million from private donations to construct the new residence during the 2015-2017 biennium. Construction would not begin until at least $500,000 in private donations were pledged.
An additional $50,000 would be set aside in general fund dollars to provide for temporary housing expenses for the governor during demolition and construction.
The current 10,000-square-foot residence was completed in 1960 and is in need of repairs in excess of $2.8 million, according to a study conducted a few years ago. Security concerns and handicapped accessibility are among the primary issues.
Boyle said the Office of Management and Budget would advertise for a design team to provide packages for review. The OMB’s project selection committee would review at least three preliminary designs that would be presented at a future Capitol Grounds Planning Commission meeting.
During the planning stage, Boyle said feedback will be gathered from Gov. Jack Dalrymple and past governors and their family members who have lived at the residence. The planning commission and lawmakers also will provide feedback.
“Our No. 1 concern is that we build a comfortable, safe place for the first family,” Boyle said.
Funds will be raised by a task force appointed by the planning commission and a nonprofit Friends of the Residence group that was formed in the 1980s to address renovations to the governor’s residence.
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Boyle said the temporary housing situation will be addressed later this year. A house would need to be found in Bismarck that’s on the market that could be rented for the duration of the construction.
“We’ll probably this winter start looking at places,” Boyle said.
