Park updates, revisions to local ordinances

Curious, Flandreau? How many backyard chickens you can have in town, how long you might have to shovel your sidewalk before you get a ticket, or what political signs might be allowed in the right-of-way?
The answer to just about any question you might have when it comes to legal matters in town is now a click away.
City Council members voted recently to adopt an updated version of the city’s Code of Ordinances. The revision was the first to be made since 2006, according to City Administrator Cohl Turnquist. Ordinances have been adopted and amended since that time, but they hadn’t fully been incorporated nor posted online.
American Legal Publishing was hired in 2003 to update city codes and share them online in one publicly accessible document.
City Administrator Cohl Turnquist advised Council at a recent meeting that the link is active.
“If you’re curious about right-of-way issues, you can type that in and it’ll bring up every single ordinance we have that mentions right of way. We’re not done working on this, there are still some changes we need to make, but now we won’t be in a situation where codes aren’t fully compiled for a significant period of time,” he said.
There are currently 15-20 cities across the state, Turnquist said, using the software. He added it allows for real-time updates to review and be aware of.
Zoning ordinances are also being reviewed in Flandreau. An appointed group started meeting this month and it will meet through July to review current zoning ordinances with Todd Kayes from the First District Association, and make appropriate changes.

The City’s Comprehensive Use Plan otherwise hasn’t been updated in 22 years.
The appointed committee will meet several times over the course of the next six months to review zoning ordinances and recommended changes will be brought back to both the Planning and Zoning Committee and City Council for approval.
Kayes hopes to have the project complete by September, 2024.
Other city notes of interest:
The Flandreau Farmers’ Market is gearing up for another big season. Growers are currently meeting to assess what has worked in previous years and what might grow attendance. The Market has been held each Thursday night for the past couple of years with a half dozen to a dozen vendors typically participating.
The market is considering a location move but nothing has been decided at this point.
Park improvements are happening at the Flandreau Aquatic Center, the downtown pocket park and at City Park. New landscaping will go in this spring by the pool and downtown, a project that perhaps is overdue. The last time it was updated was in the early 2000’s.
“I think it’s a really important project…I think those two areas are areas that folks are really proud of and they’re heavily utilized, so I think we’d be doing due diligence to be sure they’re set up in a way we can all be proud of and they’re really nice areas for people to use,” said City Administrator Cohl Turnquist.
Alderman Fargen brought up that city crews could have been the ones to do any removal of plants, shrubs, or other landscaping materials over the past six months or so to save money on the project, given they have the equipment to do it.
Alderman Ekern replied that the time it might take city crews, would still cost the city for their time.
Meanwhile, it’s not landscaping but new playground equipment that is being installed in the next couple weeks at City Park.
Just a short distance away at City Park, developer Kyle Haug has hit another snag in renovations at the historic Japanese Gardens. A couple of council members were shown a new unexplainable bubble growing in the wood floor just inside the main entrance. The Council has been working to ensure an agreed upon timeline for renovations continues to be met by independent contractor Kyle Haug, who signed a 99-year lease with the City to save the building. Haug intends to reopen the Gardens as an historic events venue and updated dance hall after major flooding in recent years devastated the building.