BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) _ The Bismarck City Commission has hired a company to design a Bismarck Civic Center expansion that would cost only $25 million.
Voters rejected a $90 million plan last November, and commissioners had been discussing a scaled-down $31 million plan that would double the size of the detached Exhibit Hall and upgrade locker rooms and performer dressing rooms in the main arena.
The $25 million plan would scrap the main arena improvements and focus only on the Exhibit Hall.
Bismarck officials fear large conventions might move to improved facilities in Sioux Falls and Rapid City, S.D. Bismarck can pay for a smaller Civic Center expansion project without a public vote if it uses existing taxes. The project voted down last year called for a tax increase.
