City of West Fargo not interested in purchasing SheyWest Garden Center

WEST FARGO (WDAY RADIO) – The City of West Fargo says they’re not interested in purchasing SheyWest Garden Center.

Rumors of the city wanting to purchase the property have begun to bubble up over the last several months while the owner of SheyWest Garden Center and the City have been in a stalemate on a number of issues. The issues came to a head on Tuesday during the West Fargo City Commission meeting when the City failed to act on an amendment to the existing planned unit development.

Leslie McGillivray-Rivas, Senior Planner at the City of West Fargo, said the original PUD was approved in 2020.

Then, in May of this year, a zoning violation letter was issued. McGillivray-Rivas told commissioners Tuesday night that some things found on site, including a banquet/event center, gravel parking and signage, were not permitted under the existing planned use development applied for by SheyWest Garden Center.

“The signage is something that was permitted on a temporary basis, but it has reached an expiration point,” she said.

Another issue is site capacity, McGillivray-Rivas said.

“There are market events occurring on site,” she said. “Which show they populate the site and paved areas with market vendors.”

Kallias said the biggest point of contention comes to traffic, in an interview Wednesday. At the Mother’s Day event, some traffic parked in the recycle center parking lot next door.

“A couple more followed suit, and I think they had 12 or 15 vehicles pull in there and park,” she said. “Normally that might not be a huge issue, but it sounds like there was a truck trying to dump one of those big bins and he could not.”

A statement from the city, Thursday indicated that the city has not expressed interest in acquiring the property, nor have city officials been involved in any discussions internally, or with developers, to redevelop the area.