Council approves rezoning for storage expansion at 4801–4901 E. Grant St.; defers decision on related street assessment

Sioux Falls — The Sioux Falls City Council on Jan. 21 approved rezoning two parcels at 4801 and 4901 East Grant Street from RD1 (twin-home/duplex residential) to C2 (commercial-neighborhood) to allow the construction of two additional storage unit buildings, and added a mandatory wood privacy fence in the buffer yard as a condition of rezoning. The motion to approve passed 6-0. Council members later deferred a linked resolution of necessity to design and assess urban improvements on Grant Street until the council’s Feb. 3 meeting.

Why it matters: The decision clears the way for a commercial expansion next to an existing single-family neighborhood and for a narrower public street alternative that engineering says will lower assessed costs for adjacent property owners. Neighbors raised concerns about property values, tree removal, security and whether the land is in probate. Engineers and planning staff said buffering, setbacks and curb-and-gutter improvements should limit traffic and drainage impacts.

Planning staff said the site is roughly 1.9 acres and that the applicant, Jeff DeYoung, proposes single-story storage buildings to the north of existing units. Jason Bieber, representing Planning and Development Services, told the council the rezoning includes a required buffer yard: a 30-foot setback, a six-foot screen fence and the equivalent of about 40 units of landscaping per 100 linear feet (about one shade tree every ~20 feet, or an equivalent mix including evergreens). He said the nearest proposed building would be roughly 65 feet from the Grant Street property line and about 150 feet from the closest existing single-family house.

“Those can be remedied by traffic and parking directed away from the single-family residential uses as well as landscaping, buffering and height,”…