Socio Economic Report Released

Apr 12, 2018

By Stewart Huntington | 

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA TV) If you want to walk into an upbeat office, you might try the offices of Rapid City Planners. A new report out soon shows the Rapid City area is growing -- and growing in the right ways.

"We see good things," said Rapid City Long Range Planner Kelly Brennan.

The new report examines data from 2015 to 2017 and shows that growth in retail, residential and commercial sectors. Issued by the Metropolitan Planning Organization the study examines the broad Rapid City metro area including Meade and Pennington Counties. During 2017, the Box Elder experienced the highest growth in single family housing units with 84 new units, or 25.69 percent of the total, but it wasn't alone.

Planners like steady predictable growth as big spikes in activity can cause growing pains. Planners are particularly pleased to see a trend of infill development, or growth in the city core.

"Any time you can infill for development instead of spreading out you save money for the taxpayers," said Brennan. "You don't have to build new roads, put in any sewers, water any services like that because it's already existing."

And the new report shows infill development.

"A great example is the old Landstrom's Building," said Brennan. "It sat vacant for quite a few years. It was considered an industrial building. Now they've got a coffee shop, some office space. They re-purposed the building to make it viable again."

Another example? The old TMA auto building at Fourth and Main. And that is exactly what the city is looking for, especially with a raft of new zoning ordinances recently adopted.

"Part of it is the rezoning we did east of Fifth with the urban commercial district," said Brennan. "It was promoting these live/work/play units where you have commercial, residential, office. All kind of in the same buildings."

The report is scheduled to be released publicly after the Rapid City City Council approves the document.

http://www.kotatv.com/content/news/Report-details-Rapid-City-areas-growth-479454883.html