By Dave Baumeister, County Correspondent
SIOUX FALLS – While no “joints” were smoked on Monday, Feb. 28, the Joint City-County Planning Meeting for Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County met and approved three conditional use permits for medicinal marijuana dispensaries in the county.
At the beginning of the year, the county held a lottery and established an order to award licenses.
Genesis Farms, LLC came in first in that drawing; however, before they will actually get the license, they needed to be vetted by the county and state.
In the meantime, the Minnehaha County Planning and Zoning Board approved conditional use permits for all businesses in the lottery, just in case something happens during the vetting process.
If Genesis is not awarded the license, it will fall to the second business drawn, and so on.
Even though the county approved conditional use permits, the matter still had to go before the Joint Sioux Falls Planning Board, as all three locations fall into the city/county “joint jurisdiction area.”
By agreement, the city and county must concur on any development in a three-mile area into Minnehaha County outside the city of Sioux Falls.
Although, according to a Sioux Falls memo, the city planning commission originally only approved one permit, they wanted to defer the other two and only consider them if they were needed.
But the joint commission decided to approve all three, even though, in the end, only one would need to be issued.
There are a variety of restrictions surrounding what is permitted usage for a medicinal marijuana dispensary, but all three locations needed conditional use permits since there are private homes located within the prescribed 1000 ft. set-back distance.
Commissioner Jeff Barth, who serves as the liaison to the planning commission, reported at the Tuesday, March 1 meeting of the Minnehaha County Commission that the petitioners had all visited the neighboring property owners, and everyone signed off on the projects.
Genesis Farms, the probable license winner, will build its dispensary near the corner of Highway 42 and Six-Mile Road.
It was described earlier that the owner, Johnson Properties, would be moving the current Alibi Bar, and that building would be adapted for use as a dispensary.
Energy independence
Barth also reported that the regular county planning commission approved the expansion of a county dairy facility from 5,600 to 9,100 animal units.
He tied that into comments he made on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the world’s dependence on Russian oil and natural gas.
As the commission had dealt with recently, technology now exists to turn methane that can be collected from animal waste into natural gas, which can make the United States and the free world less dependent having to buy Russian products, Barth said.
Beyond this, though Barth wanted to remind people of the seriousness and extreme threats of the situation in Europe.
“I grew up deathly afraid of nuclear war,” Barth said, “I was living in Washington, D.C. during the Cuban Missile Crisis…I was living in Germany when the Russians built the Berlin Wall.
“We have a madman (Putin) running things over there, and he is threatening (to use) nuclear weapons.
“He won’t allow himself to lose. Before he loses, he will use nuclear weapons, and that could be the end of all of us.”
2022 assessment notices
The Minnehaha County Equalization Office has recently mailed the 2022 assessment notices on the week of February 21st. This document advises each property owner of the current evaluation on their property as well as property class and owner-occupied status. We ask each property owner to review their assessment notice to ensure all the information appears correct. If there appears to be a discrepancy please contact the Equalization Office at (605)-367-4228 or stop in at our office at 220 W. 6th St. former Extensions Building next to the Old Courthouse Museum.
As most people know the real estate market has reached historic levels. Low interest rates and high demand for housing, has led to a record-breaking increase in home prices and investment properties. Within the Equalization Office we have recorded over an 18% market increase compared to last year’s sales. Although this is the case, not all properties saw the same market change as different areas within the county sell differently. If you have questions as to the evaluation of your property, please review sales of homes within your area. Sales are available at our MinnEmap link provided below. After reviewing sales of like properties then ask yourself, “If I were to sell my property today would I list it for the assessed value or more?”. If the answer is yes, then the assessment value is supported. Please note that property value increases/decreases do not directly correlate to property tax increases/decreases.
If you have a single-family home and it is your primary residence please make sure your assessment notice property code has an “S” listed at the end of the coding. This indicates that the property is receiving the owner-occupied mil levy. If you receive an assessment notice and it is your primary residence but does not have the “S” code that means we do not have an owner-occupied application on file. This document is available at the Equalization Office or can be submitted on line at https://dor.sd.gov/newsroom/owner-occupied-and-contractor-owner-occupied-application/. The deadline to make application for the 2022 assessments with taxes due and payable in 2023 is March 15th.
MinnEmap Sales Link: https://gis.minnehahacounty.org/minnemapviewer/
- This map will allow you to search by name, address or parcel number. From there you will be able to zoom out to see all the sales in your area highlighted in lime green. If you click on those parcels it will identify property information with the option to hit the right arrow for additional sales information.
