STURGIS, S.D. – The Sturgis Council has approved a resolution to annex the Richards Property into the city.
The City purchased the property, now known as the Vanocker Canyon Adventure Park Estates, earlier this year.
The City intends to pursue a planned unit development and a possible lake-type water adventure park.
City officials have selected two developers to complete a final proposal for the development. Those proposals are anticipated sometime this month.
Additional public input sessions are expected in late August or September to review the selected developer’s proposal and to provide final comments on the proposed Aquatic Park.
Sturgis City Manager Daniel Ainslie also said during discussion Tuesday that he wanted to make sure everyone was fully aware that the city is not building the streets, they’re not building houses and they’re not building commercial properties or anything else on the property.
Also at Tuesday night’s meeting, the city accepted a letter from the Meade 46-1 School District requesting discussion of the potential purchase of land from the City.
The district is interested in the little league ball fields next to Sturgis Elementary, in which they are eyeing for possible future growth.
School officials say they anticipate outgrowing the current elementary school within 12-15 years. They prefer adding on to the current elementary school where the current little league ball fields are located. They say the very critical component of the area next to the existing school is being able to use existing kitchen capacity at Sturgis Elementary, playground area and parking to help control the size and footprint of a new kindergarten/first grade building.
The two entities are expected to begin discussions on the pros and cons of such a plan.
