Rapid City council continues Radiant apartment change, tightens TIF notifications and approves subdivision waiver

Rapid City — The Rapid City City Council on Feb. 18 continued a request to amend a contract for the Radiant Apartment complex that would reduce the number of designated low-income units and approved revisions to the city’s tax increment financing (TIF) notification process. The council also approved an appeal that waives a street-paving requirement for a proposed subdivision by a 5-3 vote and approved multiple land-use items and the bill list.

The council continued action on a request from CB Rapid City Housing Limited Partnership to amend a contract for the Radiant Apartment complex, reducing the previously agreed number of low-income units from 30 to 22. Councilor Pettigrew, who pulled the item for separate consideration, moved to continue the matter to the next council meeting so he could review the finance director’s report and follow up on outstanding questions; the motion carried. “I did make it clear to the council that I would not sign off on this,” Councilor Pettigrew said when placing the motion to continue.

The item will return to the council for further consideration at a later meeting.

Why it matters: The Radiant amendment directly affects the number of units reserved for low-income households in the project; council members asked for more time to review financial details before formally approving a contract change.

The council approved on first reading an ordinance to amend the Rapid City Municipal Code’s TIF review process that removes the city’s separate TIF review committee and adds direct notifications for impacted taxing entities. Daniel Ainsley, Rapid City finance director, said the city will send a letter and an electronic copy of the full project application to each affected official. “The chairman of the school board will receive a specific notification,” Ainsley said. “And then every single member of the county commission will receive a notification as well. That does go above and beyond state statute.”

Ainsley also said the county commission agreed to a $15,000 county administrative payment that will be paid within five years of establishment of a TIF district; he said developers were agreeable to that timeline. The ordinance change requires public notices and hearings before the planning commission and the city council for any TIF or TIF amendment, and staff will include any comments received from taxing entities verbatim in the staff report to decision-makers.

Why it matters: TIF districts redirect tax increments from overlapping taxing jurisdictions; expanding direct notice to schools and county commissioners increases transparency and formally records taxing-entity feedback.

In land-use actions, the council voted 5-3 to approve an appeal (25EX002) from Davis Engineering that waives the requirement to pave Glenside Street adjacent to a proposed subdivision. The staff recommendation on the appeal was to approve the waiver; the motion passed by roll call 5 to 3. The meeting record shows the outcome but does not provide a full roll-call list of individual votes in the public transcript excerpt.

The council also approved a preliminary subdivision plan for Lots 3 through 6 of Block 6 of Elks Country Estate (at the northern terminus of Willow Bend Road) with stipulations, and it acknowledged the applicant’s withdrawal of an appeal for a planned-development overlay amendment for property on Tuscany Place after the developer requested withdrawal shortly before the hearing. Community Development Director Vicky Fisher clarified that the council was acknowledging the applicant’s withdrawal rather than formally withdrawing on the applicant’s behalf.

Other actions and procedural notes: the council approved first reading of an ordinance to fix clerical errors in two municipal-code sections (Ordinance No. 6653) and approved a first reading rezone (Ordinance No. 6651/6654 references in the record) for property southeast of the intersection of North Haines Avenue and Country Road. A second-reading item for the same rezone was continued to the March 3 meeting due to a publication error, per Fisher’s clarification. The council approved Resolution No. 2025-005, an amendment to the project plan for Tax Increment District No. 92, and approved the bill list totaling $10,940,492.01.

Votes at a glance: - Radiant Apartments contract amendment (CB Rapid City Housing Limited Partnership): Continued to next meeting. Motion by Councilor Pettigrew; second by Councilor Lehman; outcome: continued. - Ordinance No. 6653 (clerical corrections to Rapid City Municipal Code): First reading approved (motion by Sechrist; second by Roberts). - Ordinance amending Section 3.26 (TIF review process / notification changes): First reading approved (motion recorded with Councilor Lance Lehman as mover and Councilor Seacrest as seconder); outcome: approved on first reading. - Appeal 25EX002 (Davis Engineering — waive paving Glenside Street): Motion to approve appeal and waive paving requirement; outcome: approved, tally 5–3 (roll-call result recorded as 5 yes, 3 no). - Preliminary subdivision plan (Long Branch Civil Engineering Inc. / Lots 3–6, Block 6, Elks Country Estate): Approved with stipulations (motion by Roberts; second by Lehman). - Appeal for Tuscany Properties LLC (major amendment to planned development overlay at Tuscany Place): Applicant withdrew; council acknowledged withdrawal. - Resolution No. 2025-005 (TIF District No. 92 project-plan amendment): Approved. - Second-reading rezone (Advanced Design Engineering & Surveying Inc. / Indian Holdings LLC — Haines Ave. & Country Road): Continued to March 3 due to publication error. - Bill list: Approved; total $10,940,492.01.

What’s next: Continued items will appear on the next council agenda for Further consideration; the Radiant Apartment amendment and the rezone second-reading were explicitly scheduled for future council action.

The meeting adjourned after the bill list vote.