Master vision for Falls Park includes relocated visitors’ center, new observation tower and recreation in quarry

Essentially every corner of Falls Park will be touched as part of a proposed vision to position the downtown city namesake among the nation’s most signature parks.

City officials unveiled a master plan about three years in the making at an open house today.

“The plan is amazing,” said Mike Patten, the city’s parks planning and project manager. “It’s got really big, transformational ideas littered throughout the entire thing.”

Here’s a video flyover of the master vision:

The Falls Park Master Plan process began in 2021 and represents the first new master plan for the area since 1992. The Parks & Recreation Department held a design competition to develop comprehensive ideas to address the future of the area. Confluence, a landscape architecture, planning and urban design firm, was awarded the design contract.

Goals included:

• Create a year-round destination.
• Preserve and enhance the heart of the park.
• Improve circulation and safety.
• Expand recreational opportunities.
• Embrace full-season programming.
• Seek out partnership opportunities.
• Improve water quality and incorporate environmentally friendly designs.
• Preserve historical elements and develop only in appropriate areas.

“We tried pretty hard to incorporate all these things into the master plan,” said Jon Jacobson, senior principal at Confluence.

Thousands of comments were received online in addition to outreach at events and public input sessions.

“We’ve developed a strategy so that no matter your age or the type of things that you want to do, there’s always something you can do in the park,” Jacobson said. “That takes it to a next-level park, or a signature park, with full-season programming.”

Some of that already is underway with the addition of Jacobson Plaza, he added. Next year, it will bring an ice ribbon, splash pad, large accessible playground and dog park to Falls Park West.

“We’ve heard from the public there needs to be more green,” Jacobson said. “There’s a lot of roadways in the park, so what can we do to change some of that?”

The plan calls for removing some of the roads in the core of the park and replacing them with trails. That also necessitates moving the Falls Park Visitor Information Center and its viewing tower overlooking the park.

“What we’re proposing is once the observation tower outlives its current life that it gets removed from the spot it’s at and moved across the river into the visitor center heart where Falls Overlook Cafe is currently at,” Jacobson said.

“A new addition onto Falls Overlook would be a new visitors center to be able to give a better facility experience for Experience Sioux Falls and for visitors to come to.”

An interpretive center similar to Good Earth State Park could include historical information and multimedia about the city, he added.

The new proposed viewing tower would be the same height as the current one — eight stories with a transparent look to provide views all the way up instead of just at the top.

“In simple terms, we’re pushing a lot of the parking to the perimeter,” Jacobson said, keeping it away from “the heart of the park and the heart of the green space where the current parking is, so we’re pulling all that out, and once you start at the Visitor Information Center, you can as a pedestrian migrate through the entirety of the southern portion of the park over land bridges and into the farmers market and not be disrupted by cars or traffic.”

The Falls Park Farmers Market area is among those the plan identifies as first in line for improvements to improve traffic and pedestrian flow.

“We feel like there’s a number of improvements that can be done to alleviate a lot of that and make the farmers market experience better,” Jacobson said.

A new route also would be used to ensure that people can drive throughout the park for Winter Wonderland.

The Stockyards Ag Experience, currently in the Horse Barn, could create a plaza adjacent to the farmers market, with a future market shelter serving as more of a three-season or even four-season space.

“It could be used for a holiday market in the winter but also just extend on a smaller scale the (market) time frame as well,” Jacobson said.

The plan envisions the current Horse Barn repurposed into a some sort of food and beverage space, potentially a small brewery.

“So you can grab a burger and drink, and go out back and recreate against the heart of the park,” Jacobson said. “So a spot for (bean) bags and picnic tables and outdoor lighting, maybe even a small little shelter to double as a small performance stage so you could have a little music out there.”

The Queen Bee Mill could be reimagined to be enclosed in a building, he continued.

“We would take the mill ruins out of ‘jail’ where they currently sit surrounded by fence, and we see turning that into a multiuse area,” Jacobson said. “If you’re doing a business get-together or small function, this facility would surround the ruins, and you can access them from an interpretive perspective, but they form the bones of the dining space, and you can walk around them.”

Another area addressed is the quarry on the east side of Weber Avenue.

“Our goal would be to have that become an urban fishery along with having some adventure course elements there, obstacle courses and that kind of stuff,” Jacobson said. “That’s all part of recreation opportunities for people who want to be a bit more active.”

Other elements, including a new designated area for sledding and a single-track bike course, also are designed to support the adjacent neighborhoods, including the Whittier neighborhood where many people lack access to vehicles but could walk to the park for recreation, he added.

The city has purchased two properties across Weber Avenue from the quarry — a small restaurant building at Rice Street and Weber Avenue and the BronzeAge Art Casting property to support future parking needs as the quarry is repurposed, potentially adding a visitor area or restroom.

Bigger picture, the plan also contemplates realignment of multiple roads, including Falls Park Drive and Phillips Avenue as it winds around the park.

Putting a price tag on the vision is complicated, both for the amount of time it likely would take to fulfill — Jacobson estimates it could be 30 years — as well as the combination of parks and public works projects needed to fully execute it. He puts the number on just park projects likely in excess of $100 million.

“It’s a guiding principle and a grand vision to accomplish but not a specific set of construction plans,” Patten added.

The city also recently unveiled a logo for the area including and around the park designed to incorporate the newer elements by broadening the name to The Falls.

“We want to make sure that residents can easily find and discover all the awesome things our downtown parks have to offer,” said Allie Hartzler, the city’s communications and culture officer.

“This logo embodies the heart of our city — our waterfalls — which attracts more than 1 million visitors annually.”

Signs will be added starting at Levitt to the Falls at Falls Park West to encourage people to explore the broader area, and a new website next year will highlight programming and way-finding.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Board along with the City Council will consider approving the master plan early next year.

“We’re very excited about the transformation, this ultimate vision,” Jacobson said. “To me, it’s a perfect story about our community and how it’s developed over time. This is just the next step.”