April 4, 2024

This paid piece is sponsored by Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

The demands of growth can’t be met without the infrastructure to support it – and Minnehaha County communities just took a big step forward thanks to multiple partnerships.

“This has been a concept for about five years as we knew growing our region would require focusing on getting different partners together to tackle critical infrastructure pieces,” said Tyler Tordsen, CEO of Sioux Metro Growth Alliance.

“But it wasn’t until recently thanks to help from our congressional delegation that a significant investment helped lower the burden for municipalities to access much-needed additional wastewater treatment capacity.”

A $23.6 million appropriation made to Sioux Metro Growth Alliance was included in a recent congressional budget package and requested by Sen. John Thune’s office with support from Sen. Mike Rounds’ office. It could support connecting Crooks, Colton, Lyons and potentially additional users to Hartford’s new modern wastewater plant, which broke ground last fall.

“The cost for these municipalities to set up this kind of infrastructure service just seemed like a pipe dream,” Tordsen said. “This significantly lowers the burden on construction costs along with covering some of the buy-in cost for their capacity usage, showing there’s strength in numbers when working together and it’s far more advantageous than trying to go it alone.”

For communities such as Crooks, the additional wastewater treatment capacity can’t come too soon.

“We’re seeing growth in both our industrial park, where we sold out of nearly all lots, and in our two new housing developments, which combined total about 175 lots,” Mayor Butch Oseby said. “And when it comes to wastewater, why does Crooks need a plant and an operator and Colton and Hartford? Why not regionalize? It just makes sense.”

Additionally, Hartford’s state-of-the-art mechanical plant “will be able to handle different types of manufacturing and industrial needs,” Oseby said. “So we’ve really helped everybody out as we look at businesses that can potentially locate or expand here.”

For Hartford, the investment comes as the community is experiencing “a very nice growth pattern,” Mayor Arden Jones said.

“An apartment complex at Maple Pass has given us additional housing options, there are several new homes under construction, and our development foundation is actively working to get land sold and businesses to relocate or start up in Hartford. Our infrastructure, including the new wastewater treatment facility, will allow us to meet our growth needs for many years to come.”

Communities in the Sioux metro area “continue to be surprised by their own growth,” Tordsen said.

“There’s a lot of interest in these communities, whether it’s families returning back to the area or businesses that want to start up and be in the region and enjoy the business climate and quality of life we have here. Not only is South Dakota growing, but the population in some of these Minnehaha County communities is expanding even more rapidly. These infrastructure improvements are a strong example of how Sioux Metro Growth Alliance is able to be a connector and a conduit to support their needs.”

The new facility will be able to handle up to 1.56 million gallons per day. While construction is underway now, the hope is to have the conveyance lines built to connect the additional communities by the end of the next year.

“This really is a joint effort with SMGA, the cities of Hartford, Crooks, Colton and the Lyons area,” Jones said. “We’re grateful for the assistance from Sens. Thune and Rounds in working to get this funding through the federal government.”

Oseby agreed. “It was a vision, but we couldn’t have gotten there without help. For the future – 20, 30, 40 years from now – this is huge. For the next five or 10 years even, it will be huge. I think you’ll see some major things happening.”