Development in the Black Hills

I grew up in the Black Hills of western South Dakota, which I think is one of the loveliest places on Earth. Every time I go back for a visit, some piece of forest or field has been sliced up to make way for a new strip mall or housing development. Even worse is Wal-Mart, which paved over a significant chunk of undeveloped land in the 1990s to open their first store in my hometown, only to have abandoned it a few years ago to smother an even bigger area on the other side of town with a Super Wal-Mart and a sea of parking lot. Their original building remains an empty eyesore for which they, of course, bear no responsibility.

The unchecked development in the Black Hills is a difficult problem to tackle for two reasons. First, with only about 250,000 people spread over an area of about 4,500 square miles, open space seems relatively abundant in the Black Hills, and not like the precious commodity that it is. Second, the local (and national) political and legal structure is such that economic development is king, but one that doesn't answer to the costs it imposes on its communities, citizens, and the environment.

First, the seeming abundance of open space. I currently live in the DC area where space is anything but abundant. I've see how the sprawl of big box stores and cookie cutter condos has eaten up pretty much every open space for miles and miles in any direction. Even though sprawl in the DC area has caused thick smog, massive traffic back-ups on the Beltway, and long commutes for many residents, development still continues mostly unmanaged. People here seem to be just starting to realize that more compact, controlled development might make more sense environmentally, and even economically. Although the Black Hills are a long way from being as heavily developed as DC, I'm worried that, like in DC, lawmakers and developers won't recognize the value of controlled development until everything has already been paved over.

Second, the dominance of economic development. The local Planning & Zoning Board puts economic development above all else, including the environment, aesthetics, and even future economic development. Spearfish is a pretty town, with lots of trees and sandstone buildings on Main Street, but you wouldn't know it until you were well into the downtown. Coming into Spearfish on I-90 from the east, you'd pass dozens industrial-looking, aluminum-sided buildings, housing everything from a chainsaw store to a credit card company to a beauty salon. In fact, pretty much the whole stretch of I-90 between Spearfish and Rapid City has become littered with ugly, cheap-looking businesses that obscure the true beauty of the area. A large part of the economy of Spearfish comes from tourism and tourists come to the area for its untouched natural beauty. If we junk up the area, who's going to want to visit?

I'm not proposing we halt development. I'm saying we need to plan development with a more long-term vision in mind, keep it more compact and within city limits (except for farms), encourage businesses to move into empty existing buildings, and establish building codes that take aesthetics and the environment into account. We also need to consider the costs of development to the community and its environment. In that way, we can keep the area growing and beautiful.