NEWS

Lacey Estate: Still no compromise between developer, neighborhood

Joe Sneve
jsneve@argusleader.com
Lacey Estate in eastern Sioux Falls.

A zoning dispute between a Sioux Falls developer and a group of neighborhood property owners isn’t any closer to being settled despite nearly three months passing since City Councilors directed the two parties to go back to the drawing board.

Earlier this summer, Lloyd Companies unveiled plans to build a 143-unit apartment complex at Sixth Street and Bahnson Avenue where an urban farmstead known as the Lacey Estate has sat for more than a century. Neighborhood opposition over density, storm water drainage and traffic impacts, though, prompted the City Council in June to delay taking action on the necessary rezoning so a compromised plan could be reached.

The rezone application is slated to be back in front of the Council later this month, but there’s still no support for the project from the Shape Oakview group even after Lloyd Companies amended its plan down to 112 apartment units.

“The reaction was it just grew more opposition to the proposal,” said Tony Burke, an Oakview neighborhood homeowner who helped organize the Shape Oakview group.

While the new plan is less dense, Burke said it also has eight buildings being constructed instead of six. The neighborhood, he said, has taken the position that more rooftops, and potentially more blacktop surfaces, will only exacerbate any drainage concerns raised with the original plan.

Erica Beck, vice president of development for Lloyd Companies, in an email Friday said since the Council’s deferral, the company has spent dozens of hours working toward a compromise. The alternative site plan, she said, addresses drainage concerns with a retention pond and reduces all building sizes to two-stories or less – some buildings were taller in the original designs. Engineers have also been studying how adding density to the area would affect traffic, Beck said.

“While we appreciate the neighborhood’s concerns and have taken the time to address them on key fronts, we also know that the end result of our project moving forward means that families will have an opportunity to live in an area where their kids can get to and from schools, a community center, a park and a library safely – which is something that we believe is incredibly important and should all want for our community,” she wrote.

Beck said she was aware of Shape Oakview’s continued opposition of the project, and more changes could be made to appease the group ahead of the scheduled rezone hearing on Sept. 13.

But if Lloyd Companies is set on building a multi-family housing unit, finding concensus among the Oakview neighborhood might not be possible, Burke said.

“There is no opposition to building town homes (or) single family homes … We just don’t feel like 112 units is a compromise,” he said. “We’re not opposed to development, we just think what’s best for the neighborhood and city is not what’s being proposed right now.”