MITCHELL – The Mitchell City Council will consider Monday approving two special permits that would allow the city to sell two properties on Lake Mitchell.
The city is asking the council to approve variances for the lakefront properties, both of which are located along South Harmon Drive.
The Mitchell City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Monday at Mitchell City Hall. In addition to approving the special permits, the council will also consider appointing Dean Knippling as the new police chief for the City of Mitchell. The full agenda for the meeting can be found online.
One of the lakefront properties is located at 115 S. Harmon Dr. and was originally scheduled to be sold last year when the city auctioned its first round of lakefront properties.
After the city council discovered that the legal description of the property was much smaller than expected, it decided to exclude the property from the auction.
During the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on Aug. 12, City Planner Mark Jenniges said the variance would create more “buildable land” on the property. Without offering more land on the property, city officials say it would negatively impact the city’s ability to sell the property.
The council on Monday will also consider a special permit for a small, oddly shaped city lot adjacent to 129 S. Harmon Dr.
The city recently discovered that a small portion of a neighboring property owner’s outdoor pool encroaches on city-owned property.
After discussing ways to remedy the pool’s impairment, the city is taking steps to put the property on the market.
Rather than force the owners of the neighboring property on which the pool sits to demolish the building, city leaders are allowing the neighboring property to be put up for sale. If the property is put up for sale, neighboring property owner Bart Fredericksen could buy the city-owned property onto which the pool sits.
The variance permit establishes the legal boundaries of the property, which must be defined before the property can be sold.
The approval of the deviation permits is a step towards the marketing of the lake properties.
A Mitchell resident must submit a petition with enough signatures from registered voters to stop designating the properties as parkland. Filing a valid petition would then put the properties on a ballot for voters to decide whether to sell the properties.
If voters approve converting the land into parkland, the city could offer the lakefront properties for sale at auction or through a broker.
Sam Fosness joined the Mitchell Republic in May 2018. He grew up in Mitchell, South Dakota and graduated from Mitchell High School. He continued his education at the University of South Dakota at Vermillion, where he received a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in English in 2020. During his time in college, Fosness worked as a news and sports reporter for The Volante newspaper.
