BRECKENRIDGE, MINNESOTA (KFGO-AM) -- Governor Mark Dayton was in Breckenridge to discuss the F-M diversion project and to hear from concerned residents and officials.
Dayton has repeatedly expressed serious doubts about the $2 billion diversion plan, and he's not alone.
At the meeting, concerned residents and city leaders say it's not that they don't want the plan, but they are asking for more answers and for the Minnesota side to be heard.
Many say they feel they've been in limbo over how they'll be affected.
Three communities south of Fargo are within the diversion's proposed staging area, which has the possibility of being flooded during major events.
"The reason they want the dam is so they can develop $35,000 acres in turn putting out land under water, we don't believe that's right," said Keith Kragerud.
It's a problem city leaders say is being pushed onto their land.
"We have farm land that has never been flooded and to hold this water back...you don't induce damages on other people to stay protected," said Breckenridge Mayor Cliff Barth.
The mayor also told Dayton that retention areas for flooding would be an idea to consider.
But with the ring dike around Oxbow, Hickson, and Bakke area already underway, city leaders and people affected also on the North Dakota side hope what's right for both states is done.
"It has flattened the hopes, the beliefs of those who believed in the system," says Wilkin County Attorney Tim Fox.
Last Week Governor Dayton sent the flood authority a letter asking for the project to be halted, and will do what he can to ensure residents can live and work near the Red River without fear.
The diversion has been authorized by Congress, but has not received federal funding for construction.