The Sioux Falls City Council giveth and the council taketh away
l3wis First the city council is proposing an ordinance to eliminate permit fees when repairing city owned sidewalks (they really should be paying for the whole repair) Item #35. I had overheard Councilor Spellerberg question planning why we are charging a permit fee for repairing city owned property about a month ago. I told Councilor Barranco they should write and ordinance waving the fee, and they did. Good job, and it didn’t take a year like the bike ordinance.
Then they are still hung up on putting fence posts in the ground (Item #36);
A fence post must be secured below ground level in all residential zoning districts.
This ordinance came about for a good reason, people seem to think putting fence posts in 5 gallon pails is a good idea, it is NOT. So why not write and ordinance that stops people from doing this specific thing? As I have said before, there are many ways to secure a fence post besides putting it in the ground.
When a community has a zoning issue, you target the ISSUE not do a whole different ordinance that will affect thousands of homeowers and has very little to do with the problem. Maybe they will amend it Tuesday night, but like most new councilors that propose new ordinances they will just push it thru without actually researching the issue and talking to professionals in the field.
