The Dell Rapids City Council passed the second reading of Ordinance 822, Rezone Request for 608 E 6th St from R2 to B2, during their regular meeting on Monday, October 19th.  This is the second time a rezone request for this piece of property has passed a second reading.  The first time was in February when the request came to the council as Ordinance 816.  The rezone never took place as residents near the property obtained enough signatures to keep the rezone from taking place.

This city ordinance was again met by opposition by neighboring property owners.  Michael Carpenter voiced his concerns to the council about rezoning the property to B2.  He also mentioned that the last time this came up to the council, those opposing the rezone received more than enough signatures to keep the rezone from happening.

Carpenter said, “It doesn’t matter the number of people that come into the room against it, it doesn’t feel like our voices are being heard. I have petitions here from the last time of 238 residents in Dell Rapids that don’t want this rezoned.  Not me, not my neighbors.  We got the percentage we needed of the 250 ft around the neighborhood.  We also went out and got 238 registered voters in the city of Dell Rapids to say no to this, which is over and beyond what was required by that petition, and we didn’t even petition the whole town.  My question is, ‘How many people does it take before you guys listen to them?”

City Councilman Tom Earley responded, “All we are going to do is follow what the zoning laws say should do.  It’s up to this board to act in the manner they think is right, the action they feel is correct.  You guys also have the right to follow suit as the zoning laws allow you to.  And I would hope that whatever does transpire will happen in a respectable way.  There’s a difference of opinion, and that’s great.  That’s what democracy is all about. … I think we need to be responsible to the intent and act in good faith of the zoning laws.  We have that responsibility to Mr. Roemen, and we have that responsibility to you guys. ”

Ordinance 816, Rezone Request for 608 E 6th St, passed the second reading during the Dell Rapids City Council meeting held on Tuesday, February 17th.  The request is to have the property owned by Paul Roemen to be rezoned from an R2 Two Family Attached Residential to a B2 General Business District with the intent to sell the property to an interested buyer.  After the sale of the property, the intended use for the property is for a contractor’s shop.

Chris Gross, a Dell Rapids resident that lives in the neighborhood, was in opposition of the rezone request and said, “I’m opposed to it.  We take great pride in our home.  We restored it.  We have received an award from the historical society for the preservation of it.  It to me is encroaching on a historical neighborhood in town that should be respected and kept in tact as such.”

After hearing other residents speak for and against the rezone request, the council held more discussion on the matter.  Councilman Mark Crisp asked Councilman Chad Andrews why he was not in favor of this rezone.  “Chad, let me ask you this…you were the only one on this board supporting Argonne doing what they were doing.  Now you are sitting here opposing….same thing.   You were the only one supporting that at that time, so what’s changed your mind?”

Andrews responded, “They were going to run a business out of a stone structure that they could afford to maintain…one person.  They weren’t going to build a shop.  They weren’t going to store equipment on it.  I look at it as I would have loved to live next door to that because I know they were going to maintain it.  Here…who knows what could happen.  We rezone this lot, like he said, anybody could buy it after they want it and do whatever the heck they want with it as a B2, and there’s no stopping them.”

Crisp made the motion to pass the second reading of the rezone request.  Councilman Paul Miles seconded the motion.  The rezone request passed by a 5-3 vote.  Councilmen Andrews, David Sommerfeld, and Craig Lauritzen voted no.

Even though the council passed the second reading, residents still have an opportunity to stop the rezone from happening.  If 40% of the property owners within 250 feet of the property are opposed, they can bring a protest to the council.

The Dell Rapids City Council held the first reading for Ordinance 816, Rezone Request for 608 E 6th St, during their regular meeting on Monday, February 2nd.  The request is to have the property owned by Paul Roemen to be rezoned from an R2 Two Family Attached Residential to a B2 General Business District.  The request was made with the intent for Roemen to sell the property to an interest party with the intended use for a contractor shop.  The property is an empty lot located next to Romen’s old Napa building.

“That property probably isn’t really good for residential because of the quartzite and the sewer.  There is no sewer there.  The only way you can probably get sewer there is to blast rock to get it in there properly.  It’s a good piece of property and adjacent to what’s there now would make it a better piece of property for somebody who wants to expand.  That’s what we would have did if we would have stayed there,” said Roemen.

The request was met by opposition from concerned residents.

One resident said, “One nice thing about that neighborhood is that it’s an established neighborhood….I understand that you have good intentions for that commercial lot, but if in 10 years if you were to sell that, you can’t guarantee what that person is going to use that lot for, and I don’t want to lose that part of the neighborhood.”

Another resident mentioned, “I don’t want to make waves, but I know the city is pushing with the planning people that do all the building and property, and we have two industrial parks the city is really pushing on…one being on Garfield and Centennial and the other out by the interstate.  I don’t know why we need to push commercial deeper into residential when we have two communities that the city is legitimately trying to push exactly what you’d like to do out there.”

Despite the opposition from some of the residents that live around the property, Councilman Gary Haak said, “If you look at Beach Ave and 6th St, that is another property kind of identical to what this is where there is rock where you can’t really build a home or anything like that.  That is a commercial business and is in residential and is a brand new building going up there.  It’s another business, it’s a commercial business, and it’s right in the middle of residential that we approved a couple of weeks ago.  And I see this property being the same.  This is closer to the truck route, it’s closer to the other businesses, and he’s adding on to it.  I see no reason why it can’t be a building.”

Haak also made the motion to accept the rezone request.  Councilman Mark Crisp seconded the motion.

Councilman Chad Andrews said, “I want to point out that we are working this land down south.  Perfect opportunity here to work with a purchaser…light industrial, not even a conditional use – permitted use, contractor shop slash storage.  We spent a million dollars putting sewer in, and now we have a buyer that’s looking to buy land.  Yeah, it’s got a building on it, but I think we could do something south of town a little better.  I feel that pushing into the residential area, like they said, where do you stop?…..basically we’ve turned it into a miniature business district with a bunch of houses in the middle.”

Andrews asked for a roll call vote.  The motion to approve the first reading passed by a 4-2 vote with Andrews and Councilman David Sommerfeld voting no.  Councilmen Craig Lauritzen and Paul Miles were absent.