Despite the snow flurries and cooler temperatures that moved in over the past weekend, city officials in Colman are already looking ahead to the 2024 camping season.
Until now, only five of the 35 park campsites have had full water and sewer hookups. Ten more are in the process of being added. Mayor Mike Preheim says the changes come as the City continues to get inundated with requests for more available full sites.
Steps away, the City Pool area is also receiving some updates.
A new cement pad will be poured around the exterior of the pool, including ten extra feet to the west for additional seating and a picnic area. The previous pad, due to age, had been experiencing significant cracking.
The fence around the pool area is also being replaced in the offseason to include extra height. The height is needed to help with golf ball hazards from the neighboring Sunset Ridge Golf Course.
Speaking of Sunset Ridge, as improvements are being made to the campground and park, a fundraising campaign is underway to help the community golf course add a new irrigation system. Several seasons of drought have taken their toll on local courses like the Ridge where watering is all done manually.

Work on what should be about a three-week project is tentatively scheduled to begin late in the 2024 season and wrap up sometime in October.
“We’ve had three years of drought and it’s made our golf course...well, it’s just really dry out there. A full irrigation system should make it a much more enjoyable course to play,” said Preheim.
As all of these updates are made, residential development continues at a rapid pace along the eastern edge of the golf course and south of Highway 34. Just one lot at this time remains unsold as multiple new families now call Sunset Ridge and the City of Colman home.
Additional residential sites to the south of Hwy 34 are in the planning stages for construction in early 2024.
“When you’re right in between Madison, Brookings and Sioux Falls, to have people moving here, our school is growing, improvements are being made, these are good things and assets to the community,” said Preheim.
“I think in the next 5-7 years, Colman will look a lot different.”
Developer Jim Clark, who is a partner in the Sunset Ridge addition, said given the ongoing interest of young families to relocate to Colman, he is hopeful the upcoming school referendum for a new addition — passes.
“People with children, I read somewhere recently that about 70 percent of people move into a community because of the school. They come to stay and it grows the town…it helps when you have an employer like T&R Electric and a main highway coming through. Nobody seems to mind driving 30 minutes one way or the other anymore if they work somewhere else. What they’re saving by moving here more than compensates for the fuel, that’s for sure.”