From city’s smallest park to emerging neighborhoods, grants will fund improvements citywide

Soon, the Granite Valley subdivision in north Sioux Falls will have its own library.

Well, sort of.

This summer, the Granite Valley Neighborhood Association will erect a Little Free Library with a special emphasis on children’s and young adult books, Doria Esche said.

Esche, who leads the association with her husband, Adam, said the structure will fill a need that several neighbors pointed out before grant applications were submitted to the city.

“There’s not a close library,” she said. “The closest is the one downtown, so it’s not even walking distance or a short drive.”

The association had applied for enough funding for four Little Free Libraries to be installed, hoping to put one in each quadrant of the neighborhood north of Interstate 90 on the east side of Cliff Avenue. Applications for additional library boxes will be submitted in future years; for now, a decision must be made on where to place this Little Free Library. Several neighbors have offered to have it placed in their yard, Esche said.

“We’re trying to figure out of the residents who offered their yards which is the most accessible,” she said.

Residents will donate books to fill the Little Free Library. Users are urged to “take a book, leave a book” in the libraries. Since Granite Valley has numerous children of varied ages, the organizers want to make sure they have options when they visit.

“It’ll be for everybody, but the main idea is making it something that is kid-friendly, just because the park is all we have,” Esche said. “This will be another resource for kids, especially in the summer months.”

The Esches have looked on the Little Free Library website for ideas of what the Granite Valley library might look like and likely will make it themselves.

The chance to receive city funding for projects excites organizers of neighborhood associations, said Diane deKoeyer, the city’s neighborhood and preservation planner.

“It shows because the past couple of years the requests have far exceeded budget,” she said. This year, the city had $135,000 to allocate, an increase from the $100,000 set aside the previous year. A total of $220,000 in requests was submitted.

“The councilors really support the neighborhoods, and we’ve taken on a lot of new neighborhoods in the last few years. We try to be fair and even across the board on what we support with funding for projects.”

The Granite Valley Neighborhood Association also received grant funding for identification signage, a postcard mailer, a dispenser for dog-waste bags, and light bulbs for safety lighting on houses. One of the 2025 Granite Valley Neighborhood Association projects was revamping the entry-point sign with landscaping and solar lights, Esche said. This year’s signage will be placed on street-pole signs scattered around different points in the neighborhood.

The Granite Valley Neighborhood Association formed in March 2025, joining 20 similar groups. The Misty Glen Neighborhood Association in southwest Sioux Falls recently dissolved, deKoeyer said.

The neighborhoods that received funding for a National Night Out gathering this summer have a chance to add to that total by taking to their sidewalks in May. The city has issued a walk challenge for next month, and the neighborhood that walks the most steps in the month will receive an additional $500.

“We saw this as a way to get some of the neighbors out and just getting healthy,” deKoeyer said. “It’s a good way to work together. They can get the kids out and walk with friends and neighbors, just participate in something fun.”

Reporting the mileage walked will be on the honor system with a city-provided digital log. Ideally, people will walk in their own neighborhoods, giving them a chance to familiarize themselves with where they live and any changes that could be proposed.

While neighborhood grants in Oakview, Southern Hills and Terrace Park will go toward previous sculpture leases, two will be used for new sculptures. One will be in the Tuthill Park neighborhood. Local artist Jeffrey Satter’s sculpture Occulus will be placed on a granite pedestal in Lions Centennial Park. Satter lives in Tuthill Park. A future grant application will seek funding for a park bench.

Southeastern Drive, 49th Street and Marson Drive border the park. It has been the site of tree planting in recent years but lacks a landmark or focal point, deKoeyer said.

The second sculpture will go up in the Whittier neighborhood in Winona Park, the city’s smallest at only about one-fourth of an acre. It doesn’t even make the list on the city parks directory. Winona Park is at the intersection of Highland Avenue, Fourth Street and Mable Avenue.

When completed, however, the tiny park will include a sign listing its history and a small dog sculpture looking up at the sign.

“It’s something cute, and it activates that space,” deKoeyer said. “It makes it more fun than just a piece of grass.”

The Heather Ridge Neighborhood Association applied for and received funding to improve its new softball field, which opened last year next to Journey Elementary after a campaign to receive private donations. The field now will have a pitcher’s mound and soccer net.

On the west side of downtown, Lincoln Commons, another new parklike area on land owned by the Sioux Falls School District at Ninth Street and Grange Avenue, also will receive attention. The Cathedral Neighborhood Association received funding for a historic marker at Lincoln Commons. The Pettigrew Heights neighborhood will receive a dispenser for dog-waste bags, and landscaping at the northeast corner of 12th Street and Grange Avenue will be repaired.

Pedestrian safety was a concern for several areas. While the city Engineering Division didn’t agree with all requests, rectangular rapid-flashing beacons will be placed at Pendar Lane and 26th Street in the McKennan Park neighborhood, East Third Street in the Oakview neighborhood near the library and in University Heights near Campus Park.

“The lights help drivers see a pedestrian and use caution,” deKoeyer said. “A lot of times, the neighborhoods identify the problem.”

A striped crosswalk helps children who travel from Anne Sullivan Elementary to Oakview Library where after-school programs are offered frequently, deKoeyer said.

“But there aren’t flashing beacons, where kids can hit a button and let drivers know they’re crossing there.”

Grants were awarded to the following neighborhoods for National Night Out gatherings this August: All Saints, Cathedral, Granite Valley, Hunter’s Grove, Kingswood, McKennan Park, Oakview, Pettigrew Heights, Terrace Park, Tuthill Park, University Heights and Whittier. Southern Hills will hold a block party at a different time.

The Daughters of the American Revolution donated $2,500 to be used to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Grants were awarded to the following neighborhoods for America 250 gatherings on the Fourth of July: Cathedral, Granite Valley, Kingswood, McKennan Park, Pettigrew Heights, Terrace Park and Whittier.

Other grants were awarded to:

• All Saints: postcard mailer, light pole base wrap
• Cathedral: replacement boulevard trees
• Downtown Residents: creative intersections for a mural in the street at 10th Street and Phillips Avenue, like the 11th and Phillips installation in 2025

• Hunter’s Grove: boulevard trees, identification signage, postcard mailer
• Kingswood: security lighting for houses, cabinet wraps, school supplies, postcard mailer
• McKennan Park: postcard mailer
• Oakview: postcard mailer
• Southern Hills: welcome kit, Dumpster and supplies for neighborhood cleanp, postcard mailer, boulevard trees
• Terrace Park: postcard mailer
• Tuthill Park: postcard mailer
• University Heights: neighborhood identification signage, dispenser for dog-waste bags, postcard mailer
• Whittier: Little Free Library and Pantry, postcard mailer