UPDATE: I guess the developer interested in this project wants to also secure the buildings to the north of the block (Midco buildings) next to the Federal Courthouse. This means they will likely be asking for a street closure on 13th between Phillips and 1st Avenue. As I understand it, Midco would sell the buildings and would not be involved with the project, but I also have no idea who the developer is. You could build a ton of housing in that two block area even if the basement was parking and the 1st floor on Phillips was retail. Seems the planning department is trying to slip this project thru on the lowdown, but that is going to be difficult since the area they are proposing for redevelopment is prime real estate in DTSF.
Well, if you know a Shriner, you might have heard what the plans ‘may’ be for the parking lot the city is selling DTSF. Apparently they are not too attached to the building downtown and have looked at moving to a smaller more convenient location more South Central which would make the current building for sale. It probably wouldn’t be a hard lift to get the radio station to sell also. I guess the point is development won’t work UNLESS they have the entire city block, which make sense. Now Assam may not want to sell, but you could build around that chicken coop. What I don’t know is who is the developer and what do they want to build there? Apparently the city already has an interested party, but like most things it is top secret, you know, like the failed apartment buildings at 8th and Railroad (oh, did I say that out loud?).
MAJOR SIOUX FALLS CONSTRUCTION MANUFACTURER SELLS TO NATIONAL COMPETITOR
I have only had information on this trickling in, but I am assuming this will be a major story in the community in the coming days or weeks. Many employees and management are speaking out and it is only a matter of time. I was actually surprised because this company has often been used as an example in our community of how a local business should be run with employee ownership. My understanding is they over extended themselves with expansion and it was effecting the bottom line. I am withholding the name of the business until I hear more details about the sale.
UPDATE II: So I was pondering this today; does the city council even have to replace Cole for a six month period? Not at all. Yeah, the charter says blah, blah, blah, but since the council still has forum without Cole they don’t need to replace her for a short period of time. Charter does require the council to appoint someone to fill the role within a month or there will be a special election. I think the council would be wise to change it in the charter that they do NOT need to replace a councilor if there is only 6 months left on a term as long as council has quorum. Quorum is the legal precedent of attendance of voting members at a public meeting. Quorum for the council is 5 members. In other words, 5 members only can show up to a meeting and make decisions for the entire body without the absent members being present. In other words, the council could have 3 members absent for the next 6 months and still legally conduct bizzo. So why throw $10K+ at someone to be a rubber stamper? I hope the nomination is to nominate no one and conduct business as usual. But that would make sense and be less controversial. Oops.
UPDATE: So while the council had an opportunity at the informational and regular city council meeting yesterday to inform the public on how to apply, they decided to wait almost a full day and have a presser. It wasn’t much more helpful. Basically, Council Chair Merkouris said you have to basically kiss the asses of two city councilors to get nominated. Nothing about submitting an application, nothing about that application getting reviewed by council. I never again want to hear ONE single councilor BITCH about constituent participation in government when you play the Chamber Brown Nose Truffle game with this appointment. Do these folks ever look in the mirror?
I know I bring it up a lot, but the city council is very predictable. Watching the meeting tonight was like watching a community theatre play. I have been very speculative of the appointment process for replacing Cole because there has been no public announcement that people can apply to be nominated and appointed. I texted city councilor Barranco a few weeks back about how the appointment process would be handled and he told me that councilor Sigette was handling it, which I find ironic since she also was NOT elected. David also gave me no information on how to apply. I am assuming you would send your nominating petition to Jim David, Council Operations Manager; 605-367-8080. But whenMr. David talked about the item (#21) tonight he never gave an email address or a process of how to submit your nomination and none of the councilors brought it up either. I even texted councilor Barranco after the resolution vote and urged him to inform the public how to apply at the end of the meeting. Crickets. I think it is ironic that a council and mayor that whines about voter participation in elections and running for office gives the public ZERO information on how to be nominated and applying for this position. You can’t complain on one hand that no one participates in local government then turnaround and give the public ZERO information on how to get involved. Are you really that stupid and arrogant? Or more importantly, do you think the public is that stupid? I sometimes wonder what planet these folks are from . . . oh, that’s right, Planet Chamber of Commerce, where the favorite app at the mixer is brown nose truffles.
I encourage EVERYONE even if you are not interested, to apply for this nomination and appointment. Please, flood Mr. David’s voicemail box, because the council will have to answer to that the night of the appointment.
I do make a lot of predictions on this site, you know, my record is so-so, but I have to admit I was astonished that I predicted Cole’s council path almost to the tee. Magic 8-Ball, don’t fail me now!!!!!
I think they will pick Rex Rolfing or Rick Kiley, even though I think Neitzert could also be picked because he would be safe and non-controversial. I actually would look forward to Greg removing his hand from Cole’s back and just taking her seat himself. He was supposed to do a presentation at the informational today about public transit but had to cancel. That tells me he is the favorite to take the spot because he is actively getting involved. This may be a 3 man race, so to speak.
GUNS A BLAZING!
I think my favorite part of the council meeting tonight was public input. At first I was sympathetic to a gentleman that was detained by police for having a LEGAL firearm on him and explaining his situation, but then when he blamed liberals for police training, I just shook my head. I have a feeling the cops ran his plates and found some kind of violation in his past record so they decided to question him. Maybe that is NOT the case, but when you automatically blame liberals for something they have nothing to do with, you already lost you argument. He talked about some lawsuit, so we will see where this Yosemite Sam ordeal goes.
Gun people = Weird
You know, there is a lot of liberal Indy’s like myself who support 2nd Amendment rights, with some regulation, but when you have crazy talk at a public meeting, it just makes me NOT want to support you. I have crazy liberal friends that hunt like mad and have over 20 firearms, but support gun control. Build bridges not shooting ranges.
Last night during the discussion on selling the parking lot downtown, something interesting came up. Councilors were concerned that someone wanted to buy the parking lot just to convert into a private parking lot and wanted to make sure there was enough parking if housing was built there and compared it to the One 2 building next to Ace Hardware downtown (the city sold the lot for a song). In the discussion it was revealed that instead of retail on the main floor of the building it is actually now 2 levels of parking (basement, 1st floor) and in making this decision they decided to add 2 floors of apartments to the building. Now, no big deal, development plans change, but it never got re-approved by the council. Which tells me an un-elected city employee made the decision and was likely backed up by the mayor’s office.
TIFs MAY BE A THING OF THE PAST IF THE SD STATE LEGISLATURE HAS THEIR WAY
During the working session yesterday the council discussed the legislative proposals for the 2026 session and their desire to change TIF applications;
• 50% of property needs to be blighted
• TIF must also get County approval (I would also suggest school board approval since they are the most impacted – remember COSTCO refused a TIF because of school funding)
• No grants can be approved with TIF
• Any TIF over $10 million must be approved by voters in a special election
I think these are all a good start, but I would suggest one quick fix; eliminate all TIFs except for community infrastructure like water and sewer services or fire stations.
TIFs have almost NO ROI unless used to fix a community problem like blight and infrastructure needs.
At the end of the discussion Rich Merkouris asked the city attorney ‘How many TIFs in Sioux Falls were granted for just blighted areas?’ Of course, Fiddle gave his normal answer, ‘I will get back to you.’ I might dig around on it this week and see for myself. If I had to guess we have probably only put out 20% of TIFs for blighted areas.
l3wis 