UPDATE: According to the Minnehaha County Historical Society FB Page, this would affect the WH Lyons House which is on historical record. It also appears that if your home is flood damaged you wouldn’t get full price for your house.

I guess some of my city moles are leaking stuff to other media sources, GOOD JOB. If we can’t fix open government from the front end we can certainly go thru the back door;

According to a letter obtained by KELOLAND News on City of Sioux Falls letterhead, the city is looking at the possibility of turning recently flooded land into green space.

The letter says the city is looking at the area of Rose and Lotta on the floodplain, just off south Minnesota Avenue, just south of Interstate 229.

The letter says quote “The City’s proposal at this time is to offer voluntary purchases of certain homes in this area.” The letter also says that details are still up in the air, and that the city council has to approve this.

This is actually a great idea. The city has done this in the past of other flood prone areas. The only drawback is that even if the city gives these homeowners a fair market appraised value, a lot of these homes are so modest they may not be able to afford to purchase another home, BUT it may get them out of doing costly repairs. This also may take several years to repurpose the neighborhood. It will be an interesting process to watch.

5 Thoughts on “UPDATE: City considering buying flood prone homes

  1. "Very Stable Genius" on April 8, 2019 at 2:04 pm said:

    They can all just move to Lennox. That’s where most of our affordable homes are moved to. Oh, and I heard we have a connection in Tea, too.

    And instead of a new green space, perhaps it could be turned into a new LifeScape parking lot with shuttle capabilities.

  2. “It also appears that if your home is flood damaged you wouldn’t get full price for your house.”

    The last sentence o the next-to-last paragraph of the letter actually says that the City would make offers based on the pre-flood value of the property. Flood damage factors in how close to the top of the priority list a home gets – the worse the damage or its presence in the 100-year flood plain area moves it toward the top of the offer list.

  3. These folks should receive full value minus any insurance payout.

    Those flooded without insurance should receive after flood value, but I would be willing to pony up half of the flood damage difference.

    Those that were not flooded should receive appraised value.

  4. D@ily Spin on April 8, 2019 at 8:45 pm said:

    It’s not the city’s fault these people bought in a flood plain. There’s federal flood insurance that’s required for their mortgage. There should be incentive compensation if they’ll quit claim and move but it must be a low fixed amount. What surprises me is the city has taken a common sense approach. They’re known for ignorant recourse. Flood plain has value as open space but not for development.

  5. Or is this really about needing more land for the diverging diamond they want at I 229 and Minnesota Ave.?

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