Public Participation

Members of the public are welcomed and encouraged to directly participate in the development process, especially during public hearings. There are multiple methods available to voice a comment.

Written Comments

A written comment may be submitted to a board in advance of a public hearing.

Delivery. A comment may be submitted by an online comment form below, emailed to planning@bismarcknd.gov, or mailed or hand-delivered to the Planning Division offices.
Timeline. All comments received by 8am on the day of the hearing will be collected and distributed to the board at the hearing. Comments received later will be kept in the administrative file but not transmitted to the board or added to meeting minutes.
Identification. Bismarck does not accept anonymous comments. Comments must include a name and street address. Optionally, a group affiliation may be included. Comments should also clearly identify the subject, using a project ID, agenda Item number, or project name (usually an abbreviated legal description of the property).
Confidentiality. All comments submitted are public records and requests for confidentiality cannot be accepted. All emailed comments will have the email address in the sent field redacted, but content in the body of the message will be distributed as presented. Please omit any information you would not like to disclose. Comments distributed at a meeting are included as attachments to the meeting minutes.
Direct Communication. Members of the public should not send comments directly to individual board members, and staff will not provide board member contact information. North Dakota open meeting laws require that all information used to make decisions is available to the entire board and the general public.

Presentation at Hearing

An opportunity to present to the board will be afforded by the Chair during the appointed time on the agenda.

Attendance. A member of the public may address the board in-person. An option to participate remotely either by video/audio or audio is also available. To receive a link via Zoom, you must contact planning@bismarcknd.gov by 8am on the day of the meeting.
Recordation. Members of the public write their name on a paper at the podium before speaking. Public presentations are recorded, broadcast, and retained by Dakota Media Access. They are also summarized by staff in meeting minutes and future staff reports on the project.
Protocol. Review the Planning Commission Procedures and Protocol (pdf) to understand how the meeting is conducted. Other boards use a similar process. You may wish to review a previous meeting on Dakota Media Access.
Visuals. It is possible to present visual information to the board during a meeting. Documents or photos no greater than 18" x 18" can be projected on screens during a presentation. Staff can assist with this. Visuals may also be presented by sharing a screen remotely through the Zoom platform.
Brevity. Members of the public are encouraged to be succinct and address the board one time on any agenda item. The Chair may impose time limitations broadly to maintain order of the meeting.

Informal Communication

Projects may be improved and conflicts avoided through direct communication outside of the public hearing process. Applicants are encouraged (but not required) to reach out to neighbors or other interested parties before submitting an application. Staff will not disclose contact information from applicants or the public without their express permission but may facilitate communications upon request.

However, board members hearing an item should not be involved in informal communications about a public hearing item. Any information received by a board member, not broadly available, must be disclosed publicly during the hearing.