Belle Fourche’s lack of affordable housing is pushing full-time workers to live in campgrounds. One of those campers, Jennifer Hauge, posted a warning online July 20 that the Belle Fourche City Council may push those working campers out:
We have lived at Riverside Campground since November 2022. I am a Full Time Speech Language Pathologist with Rolling Hills Healthcare. The only nursing home in Belle Fourche.
The City of Belle Fourche had a city counsil meeting last night where they discussed wanting to enforce a “Campground” ordinance stating that no individual can reside at said (sic Campground) locations for more than 28 Days. At the Campground we live at, Riverside Campground, we have over 20 Full Time Employed Residents. None of us can afford a Home, nor a Rental, in the Belle Fourche Area. The starting home price in Belle Fourche is $315,000. We do not have the means to buy a home here at this time. If this ordinance is enforced 20 of us will have to leave Belle Fourche, and possibly SD to find work in another State! The interesting part is the City also said they were trying bring in Residents. However there are no new housing developments or apartments being build in Belle Fourche at this time, so there is no where for these new residents to go other than estalished campgrounds willing to rent to long term, permanant tenants or they have to live in another city leading to loss of revenue for the business in Belle Fourche.
The City claimed they never enforced the ordinance for decades; however, since there has never been a complaint. Now that ONE complaint has been filed they want to enforce the ordinance throughout the Area. This will evict 100’s of People working in Belle Fourche.
I am asking you to investigate this complaint. Who made the complaint? What is the intention and ulterior motive? Is the City of Belle Fourche trying to seize the property? Is it for a Wealthy donor? Why are they forcing Dan Dittman, the owner at Riverside Campground, to sign legal paperwork agreeing to only rent spaces for up to 28 days? Is this entrapment to gove the city legal standing to seize the property his father purchased, the business he has build and maintained, and his family will someday inherit? Why the Shakedown now? Why did the city investigate ALL of Dan’s Properties before the surprise meeting? What is the purpose of this legal document they want him to sign? [Jennifer Hauge, FB post, 2023.07.20]
To clarify, Hauge refers to the July 19 meeting of the Belle Fourche Planning and Zoning Committee, not the City Council. The minutes of that meeting recount a conversation about city campgrounds and regulations:
Motion Talkington, second Doolittle to request an extension of the deadline established in the letter from the city attorney to the city campground owners. Discussion was held regarding complications with the city campgrounds with state regulations vs. city regulations. Dan Dittman and James Pietela were among the campground owners who expressed their concern regarding the time limit visitors have to stay in the campgrounds. It was noted that there was confusion among the Planning & Zoning committee members regarding the reasoning behind the state regulation of twenty-eight consecutive days. Various potential reasons for that amount of time were discussed, including taxation and citizenship. Chief of Police Ryan Cherveny clarified that a person must reside in the state of South Dakota for twelve months in order to become a voting resident [Belle Fourche Planning and Zoning Commission, minutes, 2023.07.19].
Chief Cherveny is confused: a primary clause of 2023 Senate Bill 139, now enacted in SDCL 12-4-1, requires individuals to maintain residence within the state for at least 30 days prior to registering to vote.
As for state regulation, the state seems not to mind if Hauge or anyone else stays in a campground for 28 days or more. The state exempts such lengthy stays from state sales tax, city sales tax, and tourism tax.
Further discussion was held regarding regulations and licensing for campgrounds and transient locations vs. long-term residency locations and how that would have to be established in any potential revised ordinance. Code Enforcement Officer Clint Haffner stated that the system currently in place regarding campground inspections from both the state and the city has been working. Members of the committee agreed that if there are to be any changes to the current ordinance, it should be additions, not complete rewrites.
Mr. Dittman expressed concern for residents who do not have anywhere else to live, which sparked further discussion on the housing crisis occurring within Belle Fourche and the surrounding areas. Commissioner Travis Martin noted how few houses are currently on the market in Belle Fourche and how the majority of said houses are marketed for above $300,000.00. Mr. Dittman inquired if he was going to lose his campground license if the requirements within the letter from the city attorney were not met by the due date, July 20th, 2023. The committee agreed to request an extension of the said deadline, presenting that request to the City Council at the July 24th meeting. City Engineer Brent Hardy will also contact the city attorney before the City Council meeting regarding the extension.
Mr. Haffner asked if any campground owners present were opposed to fixing the issues that were originally brought to his attention – fire hazards, safety issues, unauthorized fences, sheds, etc. that are in violation of the city ordinances and codes. No one present expressed opposition. Mayor Randy Schmidt noted that in previous meetings, there have been discussions and concerns regarding safety and health hazards within the city’s campgrounds and that there has been discussion on wishing to contribute more with the 3-mile jurisdiction. Mayor Schmidt stated that if the city wishes to be more involved with the 3-mile jurisdiction, then we must first be more involved with what is happening within city limits.
The committee agreed that Belle Fourche citizens deserve to have a place to live and agreed that campgrounds are not intended for permanent residency. While the extension of the deadline request will be presented to the City Council, the committee also agreed to have the Engineering Department, Code Enforcement, and the Police Department meet with the city’s legal team to clarify state rules and regulations, present said findings to the Planning & Zoning Committee, and then work towards either adding to or improving the city’s campground ordinance, at which point the Legal Finance Committee will be involved. Motion carried with a unanimous vote [BFP&Z, 2023.07.19].
The Belle Fourche City Council heard opposition to enforcing the city’s campground ordinances at its July 24 meeting. Councilman Monte Talkington “advised that this is an ongoing discussion that will continue at the next Planning and Zoning meeting on Wednesday, August 2” (see agenda item 9b). That P&Z meeting takes place tomorrow at 4 p.m. at Belle Fourche City Hall, 511 6th Avenue.
Typica of small townn governments in SD – they don’t really understand either their own ordinances OR state law. In Lennox a few years ago, one member of the Planning Commission actually made the statement in the meeting that city ordinances “…..aren’t REALLY laws.” It’s all done on the good ol’ boys’ system of governance, and action is only taken on any violations when “somebody” files a complaint. If the city intends to act on the complaint, it will remain anonymous, but if they don’t like the complainer, the name will be disclosed.
Sit tight. Legally you’re grandfathered in until you sign a new lease. Isn’t a campground like a hotel/motel whereas you can stay as long as you want if you continue to pay the rent?
I suppose no one in Belle has the where with all to build an apartment building or two to house these workers. The Ramen factory is, no doubt, a low wage employer but the City could get busy and build some rent subsidy family housing with help from the Housing Division of the State of South Dakota and either HUD or USDA Rural Development. Fact is, South Dakota has been derilect and deficient in developing any form of public housing.
Maybe the best thing would be to just move the whole noodle thingy back to where it came from, forgetaboutit.
Of course, if the average home in Belle Fourche is $300,000.00 then that should mean that there are property taxes that would need to be raised for any further development. Maybe bonds, but that would mean that the old power bosses would lose their bite…
The Governor of Montana and the Montana State Legislature are working in a bipartisan manner to address the affordable housing and rent crisis in Big Sky Country. Unlike neighboring South Dakota, Montana has been building more affordable apartments and homes in the past year. Governor Gianforte made it his priority to build more affordable housing through his affordable housing task force soon after taking office. One of his initiatives is partnering with a Butte construction company to employ 500 Montanans to build thousands of affordable workforce modular homes. Montana’s leadership has figured out what South Dakota’s failed leadership has neglected to even address. Eventually, South Dakota will lose more workers who will make the move to Montana.
I’ll tell ya, this city council clusterbang is simply a non-solution looking for a problem. What is the matter with those people? I used to live there. Now I don’t.
Greg Gianforte was dragged kicking and screaming into endorsing affordable housing.
https://dailymontanan.com/2023/05/30/if-your-elderly-work-for-a-living-or-own-a-mobile-home-gianforte-does-not-have-your-back/
I haven’t checked the Airbnb listings for the Sturgis Rally but expect short term rentals to trump affordable housing in the Northern Hills.
This is well written, and well-researched.
Well Done.
Larry, well at least the Montana is doing something. Montana is proactively solving the crises while South Dakota fiddles around and does nothing and they wonder why they can not find workers?
Is this Guy Carr with a connection to the Belle Inn?
Larry, No.
Phil Town Sturgis?
Larry, you might not like Greg Gianforte, but, at least he is proactively working with both parties in the state legislature to solve the workforce housing crisis. He’s a Republican that is actually WORKING his job. Greg is not wasting valuable time and taxpayer money to post his photo on a race car and commercials to promote himself in a vain effort to attract workers to Montana. Whether he was “drug in kicking and screaming” or he made the initiative to for the workforce housing task force is not the point. The point is he did it regardless and it has led, with the help of the legislature and business leaders, to build more affordable apartments and housing in Montana. That’s the difference between a work horse and self-promoting show pony.
A polarized Republican Party makes me happy, for sure.
“The greatest country on earth” should not have homeless citizens…
The problem is not in the building of “affordable housing”, it’s the high cost of roads, water, sewer and services, you know, infrastucture. Take a section of land, 1 mile by 1 mile and then divide it up into lots. A half acre lot is pretty good sized for a custom house, so figure it smaller. You then have to put an asphalt road to the property, curb and gutter. Do it correct or the road will fail and the city will have to sue the developer. See how that all worked out in Rapid City. The list goes on. So good that the governor of Montana is doing something, but he is gonna have to partner up with land developers to put the curtains on the windows. You ain’t gonna get that done without greasing some wheels. Now that you have developed and built all of those “affordable homes”, the next step is to build the schools and hire the teachers and administration to put it all together. Can’t do that with a republican government, it’s impossible, as not a one of them believe in anything close to that, too damn woke I guess.
Jerry, if we don’t have the housing and the infrastructure to support affordable housing, we are going to continue to have a labor shortage in this state. The 2 work hand in hand. My guess is we have too many businesses in South Dakota and not enough workforce to support those businesses. Our unemployment is the lowest in the nation, yet we have over 18,000 job openings which means this state is OVERBUILT in businesses. If we want to staff more businesses we need to build more infrastructure to support more affordable housing.
South Dakota encourages too many businesses without realizing they don’t the adequate infrastructure in place to support the workforce required to run those businesses.
In South Dakota infrastructure suffers to prop up the state’s retirement system so, at a price of some $50 million+ (much of it federal dollars) the red moocher state chose an Iowa builder to replace the bridge across the Missouri River between Fort Pierre and the cesspool on the east side. Built in 1962, it was deemed in 2016 that the existing span is structurally deficient and functionally obsolete.
In 2020 South Dakota was 4th in the US in the number of structurally deficient bridges at 17 percent and 10th in the percentage of structurally deficient bridge deck area.
In 2021 this interested said the bridge might open in 2023.
I was wrong.
So, what’s not to like about six (seven? eight?) month winters, rampant racism, chilling effects on civil rights, an extremist legislature, living in a chemical toilet, sacrifice zone, perpetual welfare state and permanent disaster area?
Yes, tornadoes, flooding, habitat destruction, drought, wildfire potential and now another eight month winter will soon descend on the red moocher state. According to WalletHub, South Dakota is tied for first place with three other horrible red states where the loss amounts from climate disasters caused a billion+ dollars in damage per capita since 1980. North Dakota has had 45 billion-dollar climate disasters since 1980 and my home state has suffered 38.
The Republicans refuse to remove their blinders: poor-paying (high profit) jobs do not allow a person to make a living. Guy is right — too many BAD businesses have been greenlit to expose the dire conditions SD’s workforce faces. Rolling Hills Healthcare has for-profit corporate ownership — can they afford to live in Belle Fourche?
Guy, our employment is far from being the lowest in the US. South Dakota has never factored in the reservations and the high unemployment there. Add those two up and you will see that it is all smoke and mirrors so we are quite a bit higher than shown.
Yes, there is a need for housing and with it, infrastucture. The big problem is still how much it costs to develop even a flat piece of ground for housing. Pounding a nail hangins sheetrock can be done by almost anyone so that makes building the home fairly affordable. When you add the rest, that is where there is a huge disconnect on why these homes are so hard to come by.
Raise taxes to afford, sure, any old republican can do that, but they won’t, that is there cuddly spot to bash those damn libs who actually know how to use a calculator and do math. Then there is the water issue. How many tubes are we gonna run out of the Missouri to flush a toliet in Belle Fourche?
Why did the noodle do guy come here in the first place? What is the grift? So if Noodles would have been a legit businessman, he would have approached the reservations, like Fort Thompson, for his factory. Plenty of water, as Arlo notes, existing infrastucture in Gann Valley from when the dam was built. Many opportunities there and a good work force.
P, I don’t think you’re grandfathered in if you are in violation of an existing ordinance or statute that simply hasn’t been enforced yet.
Guy raises an interesting contention, that South Dakota has recruited too many businesses and hasn’t invested sufficiently in the infrastructure to support them. The one-party regime’s economic development thesis for years has been that we can grow our way out of any problem. We don’t have to raise taxes and spend more on roads, housing, schools, social services, or anything else that would improve the quality of life; we just have to get businesses to move here by offering tax breaks and other handouts, and those businesses will generate all the wages and revenue we need to solve all of our problems for us.
That thesis has merit: one would think that more businesses would offer more good jobs at good wages that would draw people and generate the economic activity necessary to support housing and public service.
Yet apparently all the businesses we recruit aren’t generating or sharing the wealth necessary to recruit, retain, and enrich workers who can afford to buy or build houses.
What’s going wrong? Are we recruiting too many businesses, as Guy suggests? Are we recruiting the wrong kind of businesses, cheapskate fly-by-nighters willing to uproot for a mere tax break of subsidy and thus less inclined to really invest in their workers and their communities? Is the state somehow targeting businesses that are just bad at identifying market forces and making a profit?
South Dakota Campgrounds are suffficient enough to provide evidence to the People of South Dakota that Americans have domiciled themselves completely inside South Dakota’s Political Subdivision as per S.D.C.L 1-1-1. To become a full S.D Citizen of the State, all that is required is providing evidence that you have a reciept for the first 24 Hours of Residence. Whether this is proof of your birth of which you are born on our soil, or any American transferring yoru domicile to S.D. Once you have established those first 24 hours of residency, you then go through the process of gaining your full rights of citizenship – Register to Vote as a S.D Citizen, Transfer all your Vehicle’s to the State of South Dakota, establishing all of your Bank Accounts (credit union) at a S.D Chartered Bank, establish your ties to the community by joining a Church, Housing Association, Book Club, or some form of “Association” among the people in your local community, neighborhood, etc. Once you do this, you are a “citizen” of the State. Domicile is most important over residency, keep in mind, you may have several residencies, 1 per each “State”, however, you may only be registered to vote in only the place of your DOMICILE. Meaning, if you are a residence of Arizona, and “WE” find that you lied on your voter registration, you can be found guilty of fraud, and we can hold the state of Arizona accountable for violating the constitution. THis is how we will discover voter fraud related to the 2020 Election.
What I would do in Bell Forche if I was a landowner in that area owning 160 acres of land, I would subdivide my land into residency plats of 1 acre in size each – allow Americans to purchase at least one lote, place a mobile home or manufactured home on the plat, giving them a residence in South Dakota, paying me $500/month to utilize my land, joining my M.Z HOUSING ASSOCIATION, which then allows them to fully become “domiciled” in South Dakota, giving them an physical address, and a public record in South Dakota. This allows them to faitfully become registered voters in S.D so long as they remove themselves from a foreign state’s registry.
I’m having a hard time imagining 160 septic tanks and leach fields in 1/4 of a square mile.
Ms. Fairbanks, you point out the problem very well. trumper folks like Mike Lee are not capable of understanding logistics and the facts of poo. or roads, or schools or much of anything else other than their cult.
The drain fields for these tanks would be a sanitary nightmare and something a city or county would not allow in such a cluster. I’ve installed some that require you to daylight.
Thank you for your comment, jerry. Reasonable, intelligent, and practical people are aware of and are concerned about infrastructure. They usually don’t have time to write thirty thousand word unhinged manifestos about real world subjects they know nothing of.
Actually, in the South Dakota counties in the Black Hills area Butte is probably the most likely to be paved over with plenty of parking lots. It has the water, the arable ground and an absence of environmental protection. But, because of the Black Hills convergence zone weather phenomenon in the spring and summer tornadoes and microbursts are indeed plentiful.
But, now, Hoover Road is just another trail of tears decimated by CAFOs, ruin, and carelessness adjacent to a US85 buckling under the weight of oil field traffic.
And then you’d be rich, Mr. Zitterich. I mean richer than you already are. And you could sell those people cars to drive in the streets in your MZ association.
But you’d have to learn to spell the name of the town correctly.
If I wanted to make money from domiciling people, I’d shrink them and sell them homes for American Girl dolls. I figured since we’re just making up stuff we pulled out of thin air, I wanted my plans on the table.
Or wait, maybe we could just make independent trailer court fiefdoms and stage battles. The winners get the right to vote. Mike, once you take your risperdal, let me know what you think.
Done humoring this guy.
Learn the difference between Domicile vs Residence and you wil learn how VOTING RIGHT WORK.
Mr. Zitterich is moving to restrict maybe even reverse the scourge of video lootery — a quest worthy of my support.