In State of the City, TenHaken announces new quality-of-life, neighborhood investments
In some ways, it’s like listening to a broken record, Mayor Paul TenHaken acknowledged.
“Historic.”
“Unprecedented.”
“Challenging.”
“Successful.”
“Record breaking.”
They all apply to 2022 — as they have the past several years, TenHaken said in his annual State of the City address.
“But it’s not a bad spot to be in as a city,” he said. “In fact, I’m proud of where we’re at in Sioux Falls right now. … We overcome challenges together. We understand the importance of uniting to move our city forward.”
In 2022, the city estimates 6,284 people were added to Sioux Falls, bringing the population to 208,884. The city set a record $1.93 billion for building permit valuation, “setting ourselves up for another year of historic growth,” TenHaken said.
“The biggest permit issued was for the expansion of our city wastewater treatment plant. When completed by 2025, this will be a $215 million infrastructure investment to help our city grow and develop.”
The next major infrastructure investment will be expanded sewer for the west side, which the City Council is scheduled to vote on Tuesday night.
“Our teams are planning 10, 20, 30, even 100 years ahead,” TenHaken said.
“We plan ahead to make the right investments at the right time.”
Quality-of-life improvements
TenHaken highlighted several quality-of-life projects in various stages of development.
The city plans to bring mini-pitch fields, or small soccer fields with boundaries to help keep the ball in play, to several neighborhoods. The first will be installed north of the Terrace Park swimming pool on top of existing tennis courts that are being underutilized.
“This creates small, fast-paced games,” TenHaken said. “We’re looking for partners to collaborate with us to build these mini-pitch systems throughout our community neighborhoods.”
Other upcoming projects include improvements to Hayward Park opening soon with a splash pad, playground and dog park; a new fitness court at Rotary Park; a new splash pad coming to the Great Plains Zoo; and plans for improving several aging swimming pools.
“The pools at Frank Olson and Kuehn Park are near or over 50 years old and are ready for a new vision, as is the wading pool at McKennan Park,” TenHaken said.
At first, many residents shared through a planning process for the pools that they wanted a new outdoor pool to replace the previous one. But the more they looked at other possibilities, “they looked at this pool as a community gathering hub, a mix of indoor and outdoor recreation areas, maybe with a library storefront and a fitness area,” TenHaken said.
“Their mindset evolved because of the collaboration that occurred between the city, their neighbors and ideas sparked by the survey.”
The Parks Department is looking for design consultants to master plan each of the sites.
“This situation is still fluid on when construction will start because, as with all city projects, it will come down to funding and what we can realistically build with what we have,” TenHaken said.
Downtown updates
The mayor’s updates involving downtown Sioux Falls largely touched on private investment and philanthropy, including a newly announced donation from the Craig and Pat Lloyd family to support River Greenway development.
“They saw the opportunity to support a vision for Sioux Falls that it did not see yet itself,” TenHaken said. “Today, their tenacity and community leadership transform the downtown skyline through development at their signature project, The Steel District.”
He also recognized the Dick and Kathy Sweetman family for their funding of a new planetarium at the Washington Pavilion that TenHaken said “is unlike anything you will see in the region, particularly for a community our size. In fact, the nearest facilities featuring this level of technology are in Chicago and Denver,” he said. “But Sioux Falls is uniquely aspirational, and we stretch ourselves not just to imagine the opportunities, but we also have the courage and commitment to make things happen.”
And, the mayor said the plan is to seek bids for the Jacobson Plaza downtown project shortly after the Greenway bid, which is scheduled for this summer. While designs are being finalized, the plaza will include an ice skating ribbon, playground for all abilities and splash pad as the primary features.
“Private donors Garry and Dianne Jacobson have led this initiative, providing the city with a multimillion-dollar gift that not only sparked the conversation to move this project forward but also transforming it into a regional destination, accessible to all,” TenHaken said.
“I realize we’ve talked about several of these projects for a couple of years. We don’t want to start sounding like fans of the Minnesota Vikings and that ‘next year is our year.’ But the economic and supply chain landscape has caused us to be deliberate because we want to do it right, not just quickly. We want to make sure we’re maximizing the potential of these projects. We’ve been working through the economic uncertainty to ensure we’ve done it right the last 12 to 18 months.”
Strengthening neighborhoods
Next week, TenHaken said the city will share more on a collaborative effort to “address food insecurity in our community” in the form of a neighborhood-level solution.
“We look to build on the expansion of Fair Market on Kiwanis Avenue, which is bringing low-cost groceries to a neighborhood that lost a marquee grocery store,” he said.
The mayor also highlighted the new Public Safety Training Center, scheduled to open this year, and a more collaborative approach to public safety statewide, including new strategies around violent offenders.
Infrastructure accomplishments
Over the past 15 years, roughly $10.5 million has been spent to protect bodies of water, including the Big Sioux River from Estelline to North Sioux City, TenHaken said.
“This project gets landowners to lease the natural vegetation around the river to prevent cattle from getting in, while stabilizing the bank, which in turn protects 90 miles of the river. When it rains, the natural vegetation becomes a filter, and we’ve seen great success with this program improving the Big Sioux’s water quality,” he said. “This is just one of many examples that spotlights the smart, pragmatic, sustainable improvements for our community’s next generation.”
The mayor also addressed several major transportation projects either under construction this year or planning for it in the next couple of years, including significant investments to Veterans Parkway and the recently announced approved interchange at Interstate 29 and 85th Street.
“Sioux Falls is growing to a point where we can’t continue to think about just our city. We must start shifting our mindset to a more regionalized view. We must make smart decisions now and include our neighbors along the way that will make a positive impact for the future,” he said.
“To the average person, these projects mean smoother roads ahead, which is great for our residents and visitors. But there’s also a bigger picture here. It really means keeping up and getting ahead of our growth, creating and sustaining a workforce in our area and even sparking development.”
As he progresses through his second term, TenHaken said he’s starting to be asked what more he wants to accomplish by 2026 — and what his legacy will be.
“I’m not a big fan of the term legacy. I don’t focus on that,” he said. “By definition, it’s the impact of one person. My goal is to find out what we can accomplish together. My administration’s success is our community’s success. It will be based on the collaboration between city employees, city leaders, community members, business owners, our governor, state representatives and our congressional delegation. What we can accomplish together can create change.”
City updates Riverline District — survey results, extended option to buy land
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