Forgive me, but the vote count was strange, because they didn’t do a roll call vote, but I think is was (3 Yes, 4 No) Fiegen, Paulson and Anderson were in favor. It seems the chair didn’t vote, which is odd (I will have to look into that when the minutes come out).
The Franklin School has been vacant for quite awhile, so an investor (who coincidentally has a middle eastern name, Qadar Sadat) wanted to convert it into commercial space to set up affordable market space for immigrant entrepreneurs or others that wanted to start markets that would cater to the neighborhood’s obvious immigrant population.
It was denied simply because of the argument that it didn’t have enough parking spots, and a concern that it would be zoned commercial. A commissioner in favor of the rezone pointed out the parking needs would have to met after the rezone and before the remodel. As for the argument of commercial, it was pointed out by the realtor of the property that apartment buildings in these kind of buildings isn’t a concept that has worked well in Sioux Falls. As for the argument of commercial, the building sits on North Cliff Avenue & 3rd street, very appropriate for the area. Ironically this argument comes from a commissioner that has no problem with building an 85,000 square foot, 24/7 Walmart next to an established neighborhood. Let’s talk about what is ‘appropriate’. Also, only ONE person in the neighborhood showed up to say he was against the project. The realtor said that they had a neighborhood meeting and no one was opposed to the project, they actually looked forward to it.
I really think this denial was due to the fact it is the Whittier Neighborhood, a place that only seems good enough for homeless shelters, low income housing and the Banquet. This was a slap in the face of our immigrant population who wanted something for themselves in their neighborhood, and quite frankly good for the whole community to have such a diverse retail center.
Of course I don’t know all of the details, but I think this would have been a cool concept. Once again, some on the planning commission don’t vote reality, just what the planning department asks of them (they recommended denial).
WE ARE GETTING ANOTHER BREWERY!
But in good news, the commission did approve another brewery in Sioux Falls. A former brewer at Wooden Legs Brewery in Brookings is opening the facility. Cheers!
l3wis 
