by Garrick Moritz, Gazette
Last Wednesday, the people of Palisades Township and concerned citizens from the area met at the River Ridge Golf clubhouse to talk about the future of their road. Aside from the board members there were a little over 20 participants.
The meeting was led by the township board, consisting of Joe Vandersnick, Craig Nussbaum, Bert Danielson and Oran Sorenson, who are the elected officials for the township.
Vandersnick led the meeting, laying out the situation for Palisades township residents. The road is paved going from Highway 11 and up to Palisades State Park. Right now, it is the entrance to the state park and is used heavily by residents, but especially by campers and visitors to the park.
As Palisades State Park continues its expansion project over the course of the next several years, the plan now is to move the entrance of the state park to the southwest, along Section 31, and to close the current entrance completely.
Luke Dreckman of the SD Game, Fish & Parks was also present and told the assembled crowd that the State so far had allocated no funds and seemed unwilling to allocate funds for a paved road at this time.
The State has expressed a willingness to break up the road and return it to gravel, though many people at the meeting expressed doubts as to the cost estimates of the project. To resurface the road properly to a blacktop, to build what speculation has called “a 30-year road,” the project is estimated to cost around a cool million dollars.
As Vandersnick outlined these costs, he told those assembled that the township simply does not have the funds handy to maintain a new road, let alone build one. Even if the road was put back into gravel, the proper cost to maintain it would still be quite high.
The purpose of the meeting was to determine a course of action with all the constituents present, and the general feeling was that everyone wanted the road to remain paved.
Oran Sorenson made the argument that when they paved the road, citizens had built homes along the road with the expectation that it would always remain a paved road. Sorenson said in speaking with Shannon Nordstrom, that he felt an argument could be made that all the construction along this road should be considered as economic development and thus qualify for some State grant money that way.
Vandersnick also made the point that this road, as a township road, is under the purview of the township. They own it and they control it, so it was pointed out that if the township wanted to play hard ball, they could vote to declare the road closed, preventing access to the park to everyone. This would be challenged by legal action immediately of course, and might be an unproductive course of action, but it is something that the township could do and it would certainly make a statement. This was considered only as a possibility which no one seemed eager to commit to.
Sorenson and the township board also passed around the contract that the township had signed with the county and the state about the maintenance of the road. Reading this contract, it stipulates that when this contract is set to expire all parties are obligated to meet together to negotiate on how they’re to proceed. The contract has hit its 20-year time lapse, but negotiators have yet to meet, so an argument could be made that there is still an obligation for all parties to find a solution, and a legal case could be made to that effect. The township does retain the services of an attorney, so this is an avenue that they could pursue.
Sorenson was quick to point out that Minnehaha County has been an extremely gracious partner in all of this, paying for and sending work crews out to repair and maintain the road in the last several years at the county’s expense.
The possibility of annexation by the City of Garretson was discussed, so that then the road would become a city street and therefore stay paved, but the it wasn’t seriously considered. Chiefly the objection to that would be that aside from a tax hike and a paved road, homeowners wouldn’t get anything else out of the deal.
There was a lot of frustration in the room. The citizens were angry and felt they had been ignored or left out in the cold. Sorenson suggested that the people let their frustrations be known. He asked for phone numbers and contact information for local legislators, as well as local county commissioners, the governor’s office and our current members of congress. They formed lists of citizens who would call or contact those lawmakers directly.
Overall, the people present made their wishes pretty clear to the township board. They wanted their road to remain paved. They want the road to Palisades State Park to remain open, even as a one way exit for road vehicles. If nothing else, using tire spikes to prevent unauthorized entrance if necessary. Using it as an exit would create a convenient back door for campers and guests to come right into Garretson.
The meeting ended by formation of said call committees and everyone committing to try and keep the road paved and at least a park exit open on the township road.
“We will continue to fight to the very end and do our very best to you, but the only promise we can make is that we won’t give up,” said Sorenson.
Speaking with the Gazette just before our deadline, Sorenson confirmed that the phone calls and citizen advocacy are already having an effect, as a group of legislators are coalescing in support of the township’s goals. More on this story as it develops.
