South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Planning Commission

Planning Commission Sioux Falls

Augustana plans major developments including a street vacation in 2020

l3wis 5Comments

Augie wants to close Grange Avenue between 33rd and 37th in 2020 (Item #11);

Traffic – Grange Ave. closure (2020): Applicant has indicated on the plan, their

request for closure of Grange Ave. between 33rd St. and 37th St. The Applicant,

Engineering and Planning Staff reviewed the closure at the time of the IDP

Amendment and provided the following comments regarding the street closure in

the future:

1. Reroute storm water from Grange to BMP

2. Combine un-platted parcels on Grange.

3. Properties addressed on Grange would have to be readdressed to 33rd or

37th St.

4. Any Xcel or MidAmerican Energy lines would be have to be relocated.

5. Must provide a route from 33rd to 37th (see amended plan)

6. Applicant doesn’t anticipate closing Grange until 2020.

As you can see, they have many developments in the hopper in their Initial Development Plan Amendment. It will be interesting to see how the street closure goes.

 

Planning Commission Sioux Falls Video lottery

Sioux Falls Planning Commission approves more criminal activity

l3wis 3Comments

‘There are two kinds of Video Lottery casinos in Sioux Falls, Ones that have been robbed and ones that will be robbed.’ – Scott Ehrisman

Let’s face it, all VL casinos in SF have become magnets for thieves. We certainly don’t need anymore. I have believed for a long time that the social cost to taxpayers far outweighs what the state makes from them.

Last night at the planning commission, (Item#8) they had a ‘sensitive use’ permit to approve for an alcohol license for a casino. Let’s face it, this isn’t about the license, this is about plopping another VL casino in the middle of an established middle class neighborhood that is already struggling with crime. The commission could have easily voted down the license (that is why it was sensitive use). Only one did, John Paulson.

The neighborhood testified against the casino, NOT because of the alcohol or gambling but because VL casinos get robbed, consistently and non-stop in this community. That’s a reality.

Commissioner ‘Know it all Nick Sershen’ said the neighbors were calling people who gamble and drink criminals. Uh, no they weren’t, they were saying VL casinos attract criminals. It just goes to show the planning commission members don’t give a rat’s ass about keeping neighborhoods safe. While they will debate the ‘safety’ of an electronic church sign for 45 minutes, they had ZERO discussion on this item before approving it. This was an easy one. They failed huge!

It’s funny, when the Bonus Round Bar by my house was a casino, it got robbed 1-2 times a month. Since they have converted it to an arcade bar, I haven’t heard a peep about a robbery. I’m not saying that there haven’t been any attempts, but I think burglars tend to case a place before robbing it, and once they realize it is NOT a casino, they move on.

Planning Commission SF City Council Sioux Falls

BIZZO Week for Sioux Falls City Government

l3wis 4Comments

It all gets started for me tonight as I got accepted to Citizen Planning Academy, it’s a two-part class about city planning. About 30 citizens & development professionals are signed up. Should be fun.

Sioux Falls City Council Informational Meeting, 4 PM, Tuesday

As I have mentioned earlier, the administration’s EC team will be answering questions about the siding settlement. This should be an interesting Q & A. I also wonder if the EC’s primary building inspector, and now a former city employee, the project manager will make an appearance?

Sioux Falls City Council Regular Meeting, 7 PM, Tuesday

The council meeting itself is pretty sleepy.

In item#1, consent agenda, the parking ramp negotiations continue to drag on, so much they had to pay outside counsel another $30K. Please council, KILL THIS NOW before it costs us anymore!

Sioux Falls Charter Revision Commission, 4 PM, Wednesday

This will be their first meeting before the Spring municipal election. They will basically just set their meeting calendar at this meeting. It will be interesting to see if they address the conflict of interest that one of the members of the CRC is the wife of a mayoral candidate and whether or not it is appropriate she serves.

Sioux Falls Planning Commission, 6 PM, Wednesday

Item#6, ZONE the Railroad Yards. I don’t call this the RR relocation project, because nothing is getting relocated accept the switchyard. Two tracks will still remain that will run more frequent. Taxpayers will even have to pay for a fence beside the two remaining tracks.

Rezone map also looks peculiar, notice that not all of the surrounding land is getting zoned.

This was an incredible waste of $27 million in Federal money. Just imagine all of the things we could have re-developed DT for that same amount, AND moved the RR tracks permanently out of the area. Huether likes to think of this as one of his greatest achievements as our mayor, but it was actually one of the most wasteful Federal pork projects ever done in our city.

Developers Development Planning Commission Sioux Falls Taxes

UPTOWN II Tax Increment Financing (TIF) DOES NOT benefit the public

l3wis 2Comments

You can watch the whole Sioux Falls Planning Meeting,

notice how there is almost ZERO discussion before approving the Lloyd TIF. How ironic, our planning commission will horse trade for 45 minutes over the timing of a church’s electronic billboard but spend only a few seconds on giving away a $4.1 million dollar tax rebate to a wealthy developer.

Heck, even after George Hahn came and pointed out their tax valuations were incorrect and the TIF should be deferred until those numbers can be corrected, they still marched forward.

Hey, what’s a few million here and few million there when we are short changing public education? They will just raise taxes on the worker bees to make up for it.

Planning Commission Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Parks and Rec

Am I missing something here?

l3wis 2Comments

I like to talk about ‘common sense government’, so when I see something like this, I really start scratching my head. (Item #4 consent agenda) Of course, I have known for a long time they have been planning the stockyard park across the street from JM’s. Ever since the city decided to close the mostly FREE Horse Barn arts center to build a butcher shop museum in Falls Park, the wheels were in motion.

Don’t get me wrong, parks are a wonderful thing, especially when private donations are involved. But doesn’t anyone with the city or associated with the project think building a park like this across the street from a stink factory is a good idea? Why not put it in the middle of the city landfill? Ironically, you know what location would make a perfect farm-themed park? A couple miles to the east on the Lacey property.

Sometimes I wonder if city leaders ever use their brains when concocting some of these proposals.

« Previous Page — Next Page »

You Missed

1st Amendment Elections SF City Council Sioux Falls Trump

UPDATE: Let Sioux Falls Vote! Sign Data Center petition!

1st Amendment Elections Marty Jackley Mike Huether Rich Merkouris SF City Council Sioux Falls Uncategorized

Trust

1st Amendment Open Government Open Meetings SF City Council Sioux Falls

I have been telling council this stuff for over a decade

1st Amendment Music

First Ave Doc, many memories