Sioux Falls council advances several land-use and property items; rezoning deferred and street vacation withdrawn

Sioux Falls — The City Council on Oct. 21 moved several land-use items forward while postponing others, voting unanimously to defer a rezoning, accept a street-vacation withdrawal and advance two property matters.

Jason Bieber of Planning and Development Services told the council the applicant for a rezoning at 1020 South Minnesota Avenue (private applicants Reynolds Construction Management / Paul Reynolds) asked to defer the ordinance— a second reading previously deferred from Sept. 2 to the Dec. 2 meeting. "The applicant is requesting to defer this to [the] December 2 meeting," Bieber said. The council approved the deferral 8to0.

On a related agenda change the council then considered item 26, a resolution to vacate West 19th Street between South Minnesota Avenue and South Dakota Avenue. Troy Miller of City Engineering reported the applicant asked to withdraw that vacation request and "plans to bring it back to council at a future date." The city attorney advised that state statutes and South Dakota Supreme Court case law impose specific notice requirements and recommended withdrawal rather than simple deferral; the withdrawal passed on council motion 8to0.

Logan Penfield of Planning and Development Services presented item 24, an amendment to a 2022 ordinance (real property by gift agreement, originally enacted August 2022) related to property the City previously gifted to the Southeast Development Foundation. Penfield said the foundation rezoned three lots into four and now proposes building four single-family affordable homes through Governors Houses instead of relocating three homes. "So we just need to adjust it to allow for 4 single family affordable homes as opposed to 3 relocated ones," Penfield said. The council voted 8to0 to send the amendment to second reading.

Separately, Mike Patton of Parks and Recreation presented a first reading of an ordinance to exchange city land with H and W Contracting. Patton said the swap would give the city about 5.5 acres and convey about 4 acres to H and W; appraisals completed earlier in the year showed equal values of $60,000. The council set a second-reading date of Nov. 4 by unanimous vote and asked Patton to confirm whether the same appraisal firm performed both appraisals.

Troy Miller also presented item 29, a proposed vacation of a 66-foot section-line right-of-way within Foundation Park; staff said the portion is unimproved, not needed for public use and the request has been coordinated with the South Dakota Department of Transportation. The council set a public hearing for Nov. 12.

What happens next: the rezoning now will return Dec. 2 if the applicant proceeds; the withdrawn West 19th vacation may return after the applicant republishes notice; the amended gift ordinance and the land-exchange ordinance will come back for second readings on the councilagenda with staff follow-up on appraisal and notice details.

Vote counts and motions: the rezoning deferral (motion by Barranco, second Bacy) passed 8to0; the withdrawal of item 26 (motion by Branko, second Cole) passed 8to0; the gift-ordinance amendment (motion by Sigurdi, second Spellerberg) passed 8to0; the land-exchange first reading was set for Nov. 4 (motion by Sighetty, second Bacy) and passed 8to0.

Authorities and legal context: the city attorney referenced "state statutes" and "South Dakota Supreme Court case law" regarding notice for right-of-way vacations and withdrawals; the record shows ordinance identifiers and hearing dates where specified by staff.