RAPID CITY - As plans proceed for a new Wal-Mart-anchored retail development at U.S. Highway 16 and Catron Boulevard, the developers are also floating a proposal to set aside as much as 150 acres of low-lying forest as a park or public open space.
It would be called the Dakota Valley Nature Preserve, according to layout plans.
The Y-shaped area lies at the bottom of the steep gulch that separates the Enchanted Hills subdivision from the hilltop along Highway 16 and Catron Boulevard, where the commercial project is planned.
The park would include four trailheads, four bridges, two picnic areas and a network of 8-foot-wide trails along the small stream and large pond that are already there, according to plans drawn for the commercial project's developer, Whittingham & Lestrange.
"It would have been profligate not to find a way to preserve this," said Doug Hamilton, one of the Whittingham & Lestrange principals.
Because of the steep incline and the difficult access, the developers admit their 50 acres of gulch bottom would be almost impossible for commercial or residential development.
Late last week, Whittingham & Lestrange met with city officials to negotiate details of a tax increment financing district for $16.6 million in improvements. The TIF would finance construction of new sewer lines along Catron Boulevard, drainage systems, wetlands mitigation, water lines, stoplights and other work. The TIF plan also includes $750,000 to create the nature preserve.
Here's the rub: 53 acres in the proposed parkland are owned by the Enchanted Hills Neighborhood Association. And most of the residents of Enchanted Hills are no fans of the Wal-Mart project. (Another 50 acres farther down Catron Boulevard belongs to the South Dakota Department of Transportation.)
Tim Rogers, chairman of the Enchanted Hills Neighborhood Association, said his group has not been formally asked to include its land in the proposal. Such a decision would require a vote of the association, and he isn't sure it would pass.
"The bottom line, if there's anything going on, the association hasn't been approached, and my assumption is that the association wouldn't just give that land up," Rogers said.
Even though it's flanked by two of Rapid City's busiest roads, the area is surprisingly wild, with wooded hillsides, sandstone outcroppings, wild turkeys and a large spring-fed pond. Rogers said he believes the residents of Enchanted Hills would like to keep it that way. Their children swim and fish in the pond, he said.
Rogers, an environmental engineer, said he personally is concerned that storm-water runoff from the hilltop retail project would harm the quality of water in the stream and the pond. He recently collected water samples to establish a baseline to measure water quality.
Contractor Jim Scull, who represents Whittingham & Lestrange, conceded that there has been resistance to idea from the Enchanted Hills association. But he hopes the residents will seriously consider the plan. "There are a lot of pluses for them," he said. "They have no use for it; they're just paying taxes on it now."
If Enchanted Hills does not put its land into the project, Scull said, the developer's 50 acres could be set aside as a public open space.
Scull said earlier plans to build storm-water detention ponds at the bottom of the gulch have been scrapped. Now, the developers plan to build the ponds much closer to the parking lots and buildings that would create the runoff. The metering dams would slow the flow of water into the gulch.
Marcia Elkins, director of the city's Growth Management Department, said the city talked informally with Enchanted Hills residents about four years ago about turning their gulch property into some type of city-owned green space.
The deal never went forward, but she believes that type of open space could be a benefit to the southern edge of Rapid City.
Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or at dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com
