South Dakota

Like all of its neighboring states except Minnesota, South Dakota's comprehensive planning statutes remain virtually the same as the circa 1920s laws upon which they're based.⁽¹⁾ What minor changes were made in 1966 and 1976 did not amend sections of the statutes addressing comprehensive planning.

Predominately an agricultural state, what surfaces when planning law reform is mentioned are concerns about protecting landowners' property rights and maintaining local governmental control and flexibility over land-use decisions. It should come as no surprise, then, to learn that the state legislature takes a "hands-off" approach to most planning and land-use issues.

However, certain clarifications and provisions are needed in the state planning statutes to address such things as joint jurisdictional planning in extraterritorial areas or places that are adjacent to, but outside of, a municipality's borders. Other changes planners in the state say are needed include incentives that encourage small, independent-yet-neighboring communities to work together towards common economic or redevelopment goals, and ways to reverse the trend of younger residents moving from rural communities to larger cities — or other states.

Planners also note the challenge of working with outlying counties near Rapid City, Sioux Falls, or other metropolitan areas to recognize the long-term problems associated with scattered housing development that incrementally is destroying highly productive farmland. A 1997 report by American Farmland Trust underscores the seriousness of the issue, noting that 39 of the state's 66 counties among the areas nationwide where prime agricultural land is most vulnerable to loss from development.⁽²⁾

Currently there are no state or local statutes allowing communities to protect agricultural land through transfer of development rights, purchase of development rights or similar approaches. South Dakota does have a statewide right-to-farm law and differential tax assessment rates for agricultural land. While at the local level, county or other governmental units have the authority to guard farmland from development through agricultural protection zoning.⁽³⁾

One program that is helping build greater trust and cooperation between state and local governments is "Spruce Up South Dakota" announced by Gov. Bill Janklow during his 2000 state of the state address.⁽⁴⁾ This voluntary cleanup initiative encourages local and state offices to form partnerships in order to remove vacant and dilapidated buildings, abandoned vehicles, tires and batteries, white goods (freezers, washers, dryers, stoves, etc.), pesticides and abandoned underground fuel tanks.

In some of the state's larger and growing cities, such as Sioux Falls where the population increased 23,000 between 1990 and 2000, strong planning measures are helping the community direct development into areas designated for growth. The city also is making headway in expanding the number of transportation options for residents, such as including more bicycle paths.

While Sioux Falls and a few other cities are using planning to enhance their quality of life, many communities in the state are reluctant to consider anything beyond basic planning and zoning practices. An indicator that the state could follow Sioux Falls's lead in expanding transportation alternatives is the Surface Transportation Policy Project's report, Changing Direction: Federal Transportation Spending in the 1990s. South Dakota was among 14 states characterized as showing a "weak commitment" to improving travel choices,⁽⁵⁾ based on its $5.66 per capita state spending of federal funds between 1990 and 1999 to expand bicycle, pedestrian and transit-oriented transportation options. The national per capita state average was $17.26.⁽⁶⁾

Another important planning issue where there already is a state-government commitment for making improvement is affordable housing. The South Dakota Housing Development Authority is responsible for increasing the number of affordable single-family homes in the state and has made that goal its highest priority.⁽⁷⁾ During the past decade, South Dakota's total number of housing units increased 10.3 percent compared to the national average of 13.3 percent. The 2000 homeownership rate for the state was 68.2 percent — two percentage points higher than the national average.⁽⁸⁾

Footnotes

1. Cobb, Rodney. "Toward Modern Statutes: A Survey of State Laws on Local Land-Use Planning." Growing Smart Working Papers Vol. 2, American Planning Association, 1998.

2. Sorensen, Ann, et al. Farming on the Edge. American Farmland Trust, 1997.

3. "Table 1.1: Farmland Activities By State." Saving American Farmland: What Works. American Farmland Trust, 1997.

4. See: http://www.spruceupsd.com

5. Changing Direction: Federal Transportation Spending in the 1990s. Surface Transportation Policy Project, March 2000, p. 32. See: http://www.transact.org/Reports/Cd/execsummary.htm.

6. Id., p. 15.

7. South Dakota 2002 Consolidated Plan Update. South Dakota Housing Development Authority, Oct. 15, 2001, p. 14.

8. Table 1. State and National Housing Statistics, 1990 and 2000. U.S. Housing Market Conditions Summary. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, Summer 2001. See: http://www.huduser.org/periodicals/ushmc/summer2001/summary-2.html