City and JDA move to acquire 575–595 S. Washington amid billboard easement dispute with Newman Signs

The Forks Growth Fund JDA and the Grand Forks City Council on June 2 took steps to advance a purchase of property at 575 and 595 South Washington Street, while flagging unresolved easement restrictions that limit sign placement and create practical constraints for the city’s intended uses.

At a JDA meeting earlier in the evening staff summarized a purchase agreement executed in March between the city and Lander Real Estate LLC and said the seller had retained obligations to pay annual billboard easement fees to Newman Signs, Inc. Staff described three signed easements covering three separate areas; a 2025 payment is roughly $14,000, rising to about $14,600 in 2026 with a 3% escalator.

“One of the conditions for the city to be required to close is that the terms of the easements… are approved by the council,” staff said. The easement documents prohibit placing any sign within 600 feet of the recorded billboards — a distance that would include the city’s adjacent Fire Station 1 parcel and could bar traffic and maintenance signage in rights of way, staff warned. City staff proposed amendments to the easement to allow a monument sign on the purchased property, a static building sign, and an explicit exception for traffic and street maintenance signage; Newman Signs rejected the proposed easement amendments and also rejected a staff offer to reduce the annual payment to 50%.

Because the easements run with the land and name the city as the grantor if it takes title, staff reported legal uncertainty about whether assigning the purchase agreement to the JDA would fully avoid those constraints; legal research showed a JDA can sometimes be treated as a separate entity and sometimes as an alter ego of the city. The JDA voted to accept assignment of the purchase agreement should City Council approve the transfer. At the City Council meeting later the same night the council voted to authorize the city to pursue the JDA assignment rather than terminate the contract or accept the easement terms as written.

Supporters called the property a strategic, contiguous site next to Fire Station 1 that could provide office and garage space for the fire marshal’s office. Fire Department representatives said current space at Station 1 is crowded and that retrofitting or expanding the existing station would be more expensive than the purchase.

Council members raised frustration that Newman Signs would not negotiate, but voted to advance the acquisition and to ask Planning and Community Development staff to explore a variance related to billboard rules and potential signage options on the purchased property. The council’s action directs staff to proceed with the assumption of the purchase agreement assignment and to brief the council as negotiation and title matters continue; the property closing remains contingent on resolving the easement and purchase‑agreement conditions.