South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

Development

County Commission Developers Development Minnehaha County SF City Council Sioux Falls Theresa Stehly

VILE comments about Councilor Stehly on FB

l3wis 9Comments

During the joint Minnehaha County/Sioux Falls City Council Meeting yesterday, Councilor Stehly suggested that we need more mobile home parks in Sioux Falls. I have heard Stehly talk about this in the past. What she is essentially saying is we need to promote more affordable housing solutions for people in Sioux Falls. Whether that is mobile homes, tiny homes, smaller manufactured homes, etc. A new, modest family home in Sioux Falls will run you well over $250K. Other affordable pre-owned housing will run you around $150K, but those houses are few and far between in Sioux Falls. One reason is we allow the major developers and hospitals run the planning department. They admitted to it when I attended the Citizen Planning Academy a few years ago when an attendee asked why Sanford Hospital is allowed to tear up these affordable neighborhoods, the answer was it came down to ‘money’. They have a lot of it, so they get to do what they want to. Many people are being ‘priced out’ of housing in Sioux Falls, and all Stehly was asking for is options.

That didn’t stop this frequent commenter and A-Rod on Pitty Patt’s blog to comment on FB that suggesting more mobile homes or other affordable housing is ‘Stupid’. I just want to tell ‘Troy’ that the only thing that is ‘stupid’ is the greed of people like him. I can tell you why contractors are not building affordable housing in Sioux Falls – there’s no excessive profit in it.

Speaking of ‘Dead Jensen’ (My new nickname for him) his all knowing treasurer, Paulson, sent out this fundraising email the other day;

Good afternoon –

Over the last couple of years, I’ve become increasingly interested in local political issues. Your local city and county governments have a significantly higher influence on your day-to-day life than your state or federal government. They maintain infrastructure, build public amenities such as parks and bike trails and foster future economic development. Because of the role local government plays in our lives, I think it’s incredibly important to have a solid mayor, city council and county commissioners. 

This election cycle, I am backing candidates in Sioux Falls that will support future growth in the city, work collaboratively with stakeholders across government and private industry and put the best interests of the community first. Specifically, I have agreed to serve as the campaign treasurer for Alex Jensen who is running for the At Large position (currently held by Theresa Stehly) in next Spring’s city council election.

Alex is one of the most positive, sharp and community-minded people I know and he will be a fantastic addition to the city council. He and his wife Nikki just welcomed a son (Jack) into the world. Alex works as a business banker for First Premier and has volunteered with the YMCA, Junior Achievement, the Home Builders Association of the Sioux Empire and Faith Lutheran Church. He previously served in the state legislature where he voted to increase teacher pay, provide property tax relief and implement a new roads and infrastructure plan. 

There aren’t many politicians I get excited about, but Alex is one of the good ones. Alex hopes to reach every voter in Sioux Falls with his “positive and proven” message. I plan to give my all over the next five months to help get him elected and hope that you will consider helping too. 

Thank you for your consideration. 

Matthew Paulson

I think it will be funny if ‘Dead Jensen’ raises and spends $100K+ and Stehly decides NOT to run. It will show that apparently it costs $100K in Sioux Falls to just get on the city council without a competitor.

Developers Development Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls TIFs

UPDATE: Sioux Steel Development wants to get a TIF, as we suspected

l3wis 19Comments

UPDATE: You will see in the Planning Commission Working Session on December 3, they are already going to be talking about the TIF for the Sioux Steel Development. They will try to ramrod this TIF through as fast as they can before anyone notices what is going on.

I will stick with my main four arguments against this TIF;

• Free Enterprise and Capitalism. I think this development will do just fine with private investment and doesn’t need any tax rebates. It is just corporate welfare.

• The development is already going to receive around $10 million in tax payer subsidies from the River Greenway upgrades.

• Sioux Steel is moving all of their operations out of Sioux Falls to Lennox and replacing those good manufacturing jobs with low paying hospitality jobs.

• TIFs have yet to be proven they improve the overall economy of Sioux Falls. Oh, sure, they help the bottom line of the developer, but NO comprehensive study has ever been done in Sioux Falls showing TIFs pay for themselves in economic impact or workforce development. All they really do is raise taxes on the rest of us.

It will be interesting to hear the arguments as to why they need this TIF. It also will be interesting to hear how they are building a parking ramp twice the size of the bunker ramp for the same price.

The rumors were true, the Sioux Steel development is asking for $21.5 million in a TIF for their project they are coordinating with Lloyd Companies. They say it will be used to offset the costs of an 8 story parking ramp with over 900 stalls. Interesting they can build a parking ramp twice the size of our bunker ramp for the same price.

This is the area we should have put the bunker ramp to begin with. So now they want a tax rebate to build a parking ramp when we will have an empty one sitting downtown.

And isn’t the timing of this project also interesting? Suddenly the city didn’t want to work with Lamont so they breached the contract and now ‘another’ hotel is being announced DTSF that wants a tax rebate to build a parking ramp. And isn’t it interesting that the Mayor’s COS used to work for the developer who is working on the project and is considered an expert in writing TIFs?

As for the TIF, you know my feelings on them. They have yet to prove that the TIFs that already exist in Sioux Falls or ones we may grant have ever helped our economy. They have certainly done one thing, raised property taxes on the rest of us. And every time I have asked to show evidence all I hear is crickets. Even if I was for TIFs, I would certainly question why this development needs one? We are already going to invest $10 million in the river greenway along this development (essentially paying for their riverside landscaping and curb appeal, walkways and bike trail upgrades).

But the biggest reason we should oppose the TIF is that Sioux Steel will probably be moving all of their Sioux Falls operations to Lennox and NOT relocating in Sioux Falls. Why would we reward them with a TIF as they are taking their manufacturing business elsewhere and replacing it with low paying hospitality jobs?

Of course, most of the council will support this, and probably will give us NO evidence that TIFs work. That’s because the evidence doesn’t exist.

Bunker Ramp Developers Development Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls Village on the River

Sioux Falls Bunker Ramp, the gift that keeps giving

l3wis 4Comments

I think I have already written that headline . . . a couple of times. Yes folks, the lawsuits keep adding up. Now a neighbor is pissed about this unsightly project;

The owners of a neighboring building just east of the Sioux Falls parking ramp, which was supposed to become a mixed-use facility, are serving notice to the City that they may sue because the project fell through.

River Centre at 200 E. 10th Street has several owners. Earthbend Properties, LLC and Riverview Holdings, LLC, which both have interest in the building, claim the City’s failure to complete the mixed-use portion of the project has caused them a loss in business and the value of their property to go down.

This is the building to the east. I think they are suing because the bunker ramp is uglier then their building, that’s my guess anyway.

I can’t even write angry rants about this anymore because it is turning into the worst decision city elected officials (and unelected officials) ever made, and when they had an opportunity to fix it, they made more bad decisions. And get this, no one has apologized yet. Not only is Trump running our healthcare institutions in Sioux Falls, apparently he is running city government to. I’m just waiting for one of the RS5 councilors to come out and say, “My vote on the Bunker Ramp was PERFECT!”.

Development Downtown Sioux Falls Sioux Falls

UPDATE II: Like we didn’t see this coming

l3wis 8Comments

UPDATE II: This gets more interesting by the minute;

In one of the provisions, Hultgren agrees to “. . . make restitution to the victims for Defendant’s conduct set forth in the Information, this Plea Agreement (click here) (including the Factual Basis Statement) (clickhere), and the presentence investigation report. . .”

How much this is is not included in the above documents. The court also sealed another document, Sealed Plea Agreement Supplement, which may or may not include such information.

UPDATE: As I expected, a deal was cut;

Hultgren Construction has reached a plea agreement with the federal government to plead guilty to a misdemeanor for its role in the December 2, 2016 Copper Lounge building collapse in Sioux Falls.

I find it interesting that individuals are NOT being charged. Makes you wonder if a deal is being cut;

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in South Dakota formally charged Hultgren Construction for its role in the Dec. 2, 2016 tragedy that took the life of Ethan McMahon, an employee of the company and U.S. Marine Corps veteran who had served in Afghanistan. McMahon died in the collapse, which occurred while Hultgren Construction was removing a 38-inch thick load-bearing wall. The wall separated the old Copper Lounge and the former Skelly’s Pub, two former bars that were being merged into one building.

The company faces the charge of willful violation of the Occupational, Safety and Health Act, a misdemeanor charge. The owners of the company, Aaron Hultgren, Larry Canfield, Norm Drake and Paul Cink, will face no criminal charges.

The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years probation and a $500,000 fine.

If found guilty though, it could lead to some pretty big civil cases.

Again, I ask, why did some city officials think it was a good idea to invest with these clowns? Baffling.

Developers Development Planning Commission Sioux Falls

Sioux Falls Planning Commission Agenda, Aug 7, 2019, 6PM

l3wis 1Comments

A real mixed bag next Wednesday.

Item#2, A-C, The city plans on some rezones to create a bunch of detention ponds.

Item#2D, okay, I’m no home designer, but in order to qualify as a ‘Twin Home’ shouldn’t the houses be attached to each other? Just look at the plans, only the garages share a wall. Weird.

Item#2E, I guess Lloyd Companies bought the old Bowden Youth Center and are going to covert into apartments and offices.

Item#5B, A property owner is trying to convert the old Bob’s Café building into a Casino. Not only is it a bad location next to neighborhood homes, we don’t need anymore casinos in this town. When is the state legislature finally going to repeal this scourge on our society?

Item#5D, you know the house across from Avera that Avera said needed be torn down? John Koch is converting into apartments for temporary nurses for Avera, and Avera is loaning 3 parking spots to the complex. Funny how these things work out.

Item#5F, another casino, this time at Lake Lorraine. What retail mega-plex in Sioux Falls wouldn’t be complete without a casino! This one the planning department says is OK. Besides, it’s close to an assisted living center, they shouldn’t have to take an Uber or Paratransit to gamble.

Item#5G, the old Shopko on East 10th is becoming a car lot. I know, shocking!

Item#7, The Planning Department came up with a new flowchart to let us know how redevelopment works.

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