City approves Liberty Park planned development rezoning and initial development plan

The City Commission voted to rezone Parcel 200-50-58-001 — the area between Riverview Road and Kenwood Drive north of Fifth Street (Highway 18) — to a planned development district and approved the initial development plan for the Liberty Park addition.

Jeff Tanner, director of the Canton Economic Development Corporation, and developer Kelly Nielsen of Nielsen Construction presented the proposal to the Planning & Zoning Commission and later to the City Commission. Tanner said the Canton Economic Development Corporation submitted the application and introduced Nielsen and the project engineer, Ari Hoekstra of ISG, to answer technical questions.

The proposals call for about 114 single-family lots in the subdivision. The developer asked for two principal variances from local standards: nine lots with 50-foot widths and 17 lots with 58-foot widths (many other lots meet or exceed the typical 64–66-foot standard), and reduced side-yard setbacks of 5 feet on the smaller lots. "If anything we can do, even if it's saving $5,000 in a lot costs... we can still hit some single family homes to be in that $300,000 range," Nielsen said, describing the request as a market-driven step to reach that price point.

Nielsen said covenants will be recorded that generally mirror city ordinances and noted typical restrictions such as color palettes and limits on livestock. He also described yard-fencing allowances (colored finishes required for chain link) and said multifamily or for-sale townhome units remain possible on portions of the site. The developer said utilities in parts of the site will require removal and replacement and that the South Dakota Department of Transportation requires a traffic study for any new access to Highway 18; any required off-site improvements would be the developer's responsibility.

Planning & Zoning held a public hearing and, with no public opponents present, voted to recommend approval to the City Commission. At the City Commission hearing, staff and the developer confirmed that some submitted maps in packet materials reflected earlier versions and that engineering staff continued their plan review. The commission then moved, by roll-call vote, to approve the rezoning and the initial development plan.

The approvals are recommendations and regulatory steps required to proceed to subsequent permit reviews, subdivision platting and infrastructure work. The developer said the project team hopes to use available grant funds and start dirt work this season if approvals and scheduling align; final construction timing remains contingent on engineering reviews, DOT access approval and grant scheduling.

Votes and next steps: the Planning & Zoning Commission recommended both the rezoning and the initial development plan; the City Commission approved the rezoning and initial plan on recorded roll calls and will proceed with subsequent engineering and permitting reviews before construction begins.

Clarifying details: the developer said the subdivision contains approximately 114 lots, with nine 50-foot lots and 17 58-foot lots; the reduced side-yard setback requested is 5 feet (foundation wall; typical roof overhangs may reduce clearance to about 3 feet). A DOT-mandated traffic study for Highway 18 access is required; any off-site improvements required by DOT would be borne by the developer. Covenants will be recorded but the final covenant language and enforcement details were not specified.

The hearing record contained no formal opponents and no final construction timeline was set.