Fargodome expansion meeting, Tuesday, April 18th @11:30, City Hall

[HerdBot]

Nowhere in the US comes even remotely close to NYC's density. Useless comparison. The Midwest never will simply due to geology. NYC sits on bedrock and easily supports skyscrapers, most of the MW is on 100+ feet of clay. Building up is impossible so we must build out. ND's tallest building is the capital at 18 stories, 2nd is the new RDO in Fargo at 18 but slightly shorter.

You are correct obviously but doesnt Chicago has similar building conditions as we do? Isn't Bismarck a completely different soil than Fargo and could build much taller?

[Hammersmith]

It'a considered brown bag meeting, whatever thst means but hopefully they upload the video today. Want to watch obviously

A lunch meeting. A term from when a sandwich lunch would come in a plain brown paper bag.

[bisonaudit]

Nowhere in the US comes even remotely close to NYC's density. Useless comparison. The Midwest never will simply due to geology. NYC sits on bedrock and easily supports skyscrapers, most of the MW is on 100+ feet of clay. Building up is impossible so we must build out. ND's tallest building is the capital at 18 stories, 2nd is the new RDO in Fargo at 18 but slightly shorter.

You don’t need super tall to get a lot of density. The building we live in in St. Paul is taller than either of the places we lived in Singapore. Paris is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and there aren’t a lot of skyscrapers there. It’s less about geology and more about geography. The talllest buildings in Singapore are almost all on landfill reclaimed from the sea. They go up because they can’t go out. Greater Fargo will have a shore line soon enough. then the question will be bow much of your island do you want to pave over before you try something different.

[NDSU92]

Are we comparing Fargo to Singapore and Paris because New York wasn’t close enough? Lol

The geology doesn’t support it, the geography doesn’t require it, the local economy won’t pay for it and the residents are more married to their cars than their spouses. I would love for Fargo to be walkable or even have passable public transportation but I doubt it’ll ever happen in my children’s lifetimes. Let alone while any building near the Fargodome is still standing.

[reformedUNDfan]

Are we comparing Fargo to Singapore and Paris because New York wasn’t close enough? Lol

The geology doesn’t support it, the geography doesn’t require it, the local economy won’t pay for it and the residents are more married to their cars than their spouses. I would love for Fargo to be walkable or even have passable public transportation but I doubt it’ll ever happen in my children’s lifetimes. Let alone while any building near the Fargodome is still standing.

people are paying out the nose for walkable mixed use neighborhoods in Fargo, and they account for virtually all the new apartment construction in town as best as I can tell.

[OrygunBison]

You don’t need supper tall to get a lot of density. The building we live in in St. Paul is taller than either of the places we lived in Singapore. Paris is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and there aren’t a lot of skyscrapers there. It’s less about geology and more about geography. The talllest buildings in Singapore are almost all on landfill reclaimed from the sea. They go up because they can’t go out. Greater Fargo will have a shore line soon enough. then the question will be bow much of your island do you want to pave over before you try something different.

As I type this, I'm sitting on a park bench in Place de la Nation. (Have to ask about my sanity given that I'm posting on BV right now... Anyway...) It doesn't feel like a big city at all. Generous open space everywhere. Huge boulevards, spectacular plazas/squares, and glorious parks sprinkled throughout. Sure, there are a fair amount of people but I feel way more relaxed here than most medium/small cities. The people are spread out. The design intention of a city matters drastically to its true health.

Parking in Fargo is certainly part of the formula but it would be incredibly disappointing and utterly foolish to continue to design the city in a way that makes it the most important part.

[OrygunBison]

You are correct obviously but doesnt Chicago has similar building conditions as we do? Isn't Bismarck a completely different soil than Fargo and could build much taller?

No. Building in Chicago is different than building in Fargo, which is different than building in Bismark. It's silly how people here treat this issue as a monolith. Pun intended.

That said, building a high rise in Fargo isn't THAT big of a deal because, you know, science. The costs do go up, just like everywhere else that a high rise is being considered. The only reason that they don't really exist in Fargo is that there's no real development pressure to push skyward. Extra foundation costs compared to other places with high rises plays almost no part in the discussion.

Also, people here continue to make statements about the advantages of bedrock for foundation design but miss the fact that bedrock can cause incredibly difficult challenges for distributing underground utilities or providing below grade parking.

[WeAreThePride]

We can't fill the damn thing more than once or twice a year. Why expand?

[NDSU92]

people are paying out the nose for walkable mixed use neighborhoods in Fargo, and they account for virtually all the new apartment construction in town as best as I can tell.

I would love to see all these “walkable” mixed use developments. Sticking a strip mall in the bottom floor of an apartment building doesn’t just make a community walkable.

Btw, the answer to everyone’s question is in post 57 above. Now let him go back to enjoying Paris.

[NDSU92]

We can't fill the damn thing more than once or twice a year. Why expand?

At this point I don’t think there’s much talk of expansion for expansion’s sake. If we were to build something new because we feel the dome has become outdated, then yeah let’s expand for the future.

I think what most are talking about now (besides parking lots) is trying to install improvements to the dome that can increase revenue (for example box and/or club seats). IMO the Fargodome is almost perfectly sized for the last four years and moving forward unless something changes.