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Planning commission recommends zoning updates to add neighborhood commercial and mixed-use districts
Summary
Commissioners recommended approval of Ordinance 774 to add neighborhood commercial, mixed-use, rural residential (3-acre minimum) and commercial flex districts, update landscaping buffers and treat data centers as conditional uses to allow case-by-case review of utilities and cooling needs.
The Box Elder Planning Commission voted Oct. 20 to recommend Ordinance 774, an update to Chapter 44 (zoning) that adds new districts and updates landscaping and land-use tables.
Laurie Patton (finance line director) told commissioners the changes would create neighborhood commercial and mixed-use districts, add a rural residential district with a 3-acre minimum lot size tailored for areas that may annex into the city, and create a commercial flex option to allow creative commercial concepts paired with increased landscaping or plazas. “We are in the 10 biggest cities in South Dakota and...7 of them already had neighborhood commercial,” Patton said, describing the change as a buffer to protect residential areas from intense commercial uses.
Patton said data centers would be permitted only in general light industrial zones and treated as conditional uses because of the need to review their electricity, water and cooling plans. Commissioners had no substantive objections and moved to recommend approval; a roll-call vote approved the recommendation to forward Ordinance 774 to city council.
The recommendation will be submitted to the City Council for final action.
