Homeowner Considers her Third Buyout Living in F-M Area - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Neighbors along a riverfront stretch of Fargo prone to flooding are saying they may have no choice but to sell their homes to the city.

That's after the city finalized a plan to offer buyouts to homes to build flood protection there.

More than 50 homes - primarily between 32nd Avenue South and 40th Avenue South, and between the river and University Drive are part of the plan.

It's expected to cost the city about 30 million dollars.

Dorothy Allen understands she's not the first home on the city's buyout list, but it doesn't bother her. The River Drive homeowner has a lot of experience, after all -- this is the third home she's owned that's been bought out.

The first was a Moorhead home she and her husband bought in 1976. They moved in 1979 to a house south of the city of Fargo when that first home was bought out to build Eventide Assisted Living Center.

"We decided we wanted to live in the country," says Allen, flipping through scrapbooks. They spent a long time building that home themselves, making it just the way they wanted. That was one of the first homes near what's now Oxbow, and it turned out to be prone to flooding. That was the second buyout for the Allens.

She says they chose their current lot because it's set high up enough that it never floods -- and hasn't, not even during the historic flood of 2009. But it's on the list, and she says they'll take the deal when it's offered, likely in October of next year.

"There's always another house," she says.