Some landowners are throwing their hat in the ring for a potential prison site. One of the new sites is for land in Sioux Falls, and the other in Box Elder.
Though prison conversations are well on their way, legislators say they are going to take a “serious” look at the two offers.
Three landowners are offering a combined 148 acres of land for a potential site in northeastern Sioux Falls. It’s located along N. Bahnson Avenue near I-229 and was the site of a proposed hog barn that never came to fruition.
The Box Elder site is for just over 100-acres along Highway 1416 two miles from I-90.
The state indicated it wanted at least 100-acres of land for the $600 million project. It’s also been advised to locate it near Sioux Falls due to the available workforce required to fill over 400 jobs needed once constructed.
However, a Box Elder letter asking the state for consideration says the area is “well-positioned to meet institutional staffing needs."
Rebecca Bader is the public information officer for Box Elder. She said Box Elder put the submission together to at least be considered.
“They were able to kind of get together a document, being able to submit it, because that deadline was coming up here really, really rather quickly,” Bader said. “So, they wanted to make sure that we at least have it in so our city council as well as our community members can have a really good understanding of if we wanted to pursue this, if we, you know, need to obviously have more time to ask more questions, but that’s the biggest thing.”
As Ellsworth Air Force Base is receiving B-21 bombers, the Box Elder area is expected see 30% population increase by 2026.
Bader said the correctional facility, and the 440 jobs it brings with it, offer opportunity alongside the growth.
"I am expecting that there’s definitely going to be some strong opinions. This is going to be, it’s totally something new for the city of Box Elder. You know the reason that it was kind of looked at specifically was for job growth and looking at making sure we’ve got different opportunities of economic development, especially with our increase in population that we’re expecting with base,” Bader said. “So it is definitely going to be a, I can tell a very open and transparent conversation I think between the public and our city council.”
She added the city is planning to take public input and is adding it to the city council’s agenda discussions.
Sioux Falls Sen. Chris Karr is on the Project Prison Reset Task Force. He said although the Box Elder and Sioux Falls offers came in later than others, “nothing surprises him in this process.”
“Land deals become available for different reasons. This might be the center of our world right now, but there’s a lot of folks that are busy doing 100 other things,” Karr said. “And maybe they just learned about the discussion with the prison and the land, and they think, ‘You know what? I’ve been thinking about posting this land, selling this land. Now might be a good time. I might have that property that might be a good option.”
He added even though the task force only has one more scheduled meeting, they need to take these offers “seriously” into consideration.
“I think we’d be foolish to not consider legitimate pieces of land for this project,” Karr said.
He said one of the added benefits to the Sioux Falls facility is the existing workforce from the DOC facilities already in place, which makes for a smoother transition.
"That experience of those individuals working in the penitentiary as officers and guards is vital. And even when they're talking about it potentially at Huron and Mitchell [at the last task force meeting], they said that only works if you can get this workforce to go to work there at least for a while until you get it ramped up and get people trained and they understand what's going on," Karr said. "You can't just start a prison facility with all new people. It just doesn't work. You need the experience and expertise that [existing DOC employees] have."
Leola Sen. Mark Lapka is also on the task force. He said because of flexibility at the top, he also believes either option is a possibility.
“That was a surprise to have a couple more proposals show up at this stage in the game. But I know that it was under Gov. [Larry] Rhoden’s direction that, you know, everything is on the table. And I guess in light of the special session being delayed to some degree, whether they’ll be taken a look at, I’m sure they’ll be considered because I’ve been very impressed with how Lt. Gov. [Tony] Venhuizen has been chairing the committee, and open to any and all ideas. So now that we have them, I’m sure they’ll be discussed.”
The next task force meeting is set for July 8, where these options are expected to be discussed in addition to looking over project options at Mitchell, Worthing and expanding the existing DOC facilities in Springfield and Sioux Falls.
Prices to acquire the newly proposed land in Sioux Falls and Box Elder sites are not known yet.
