<body><div><figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=369uEc_19hyrXMD00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=369uEc_19hyrXMD00" width="900" height="675" ></figure>SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A group that calls itself the Benton Township Bakers Dozen released a plan to build the a new Smithfield plant near the new state men’s prison in northern Sioux Falls. The group said in its emailed news release that the city council should defer a vote on the CUP and TIF district so it can discuss the group’s alternative plan. The news release said the group represents owners and occupants of 13 residential properties “adjacent to the proposed site in Foundation Plant.”Based on the Sioux Falls City Council’s decision Tuesday night to approve a conditional use permit (CUP) for a Smithfield plant in Foundation Park, there will be no need for a different location. The council also approved the Tax Increment Finance district plan for the Smithfield site.The city’s planning commission approved the CUP 6-1 but the approval was appealed. The city was required to consider that appeal. During last week’s council meeting, a majority of the audience that spoke was in favor of the project and the proposed TIF plan.The Bakers Dozen plan calls for moving the Smithfield plant “to a site near the data center land, prison project and water treatment facility to leverage existing infrastructure and reduce costs.”The plan shifts the pork plant away from the Crooks city limits in Foundation Park industrial park in northwestern Sioux Falls to northeastern Sioux Falls.The city’s new water reclamation plant or wastewater plant is at 4500 N Sycamore Ave. The new prison will be built on about 148 acres that border Benson Road. The property is north of Gage Brothers, with North Bahnson Avenue to the west and Sycamore Avenue to the east. The Benton Township Bakers Dozen plan did not specify land sites or addresses but the city of Sioux Falls is working with a developer on a proposed data center on northeastern side of the city bordering the Brandon city limits.The state had considered about 140 acres in two parcels in Sioux Falls near North Bahnson Avenue and Interstate 229 for a new prison. The parcels are located near where the former Wholestone Farms had built a butcher shop in 2022 and planned a pork processing plant.If the plant moved closer to the city’s wastewater treatment plant it could build its own smaller plant and take advantage of the city’s treatment plant, the Bakers Dozen plan said. That would eliminate the need for the $90 million TIF, the plan said.City officials have said the $90 million TIF will be used to reimburse Smithfield for costs of its own wastewater treatment plant which saves capacity on the city’s plant. City and Smithfield officials have said the new plant would not be built without the TIF district.A TIF defers the new tax revenue created by the pork plant project in increments that are used to reimburse Smithfield. The increase in property value would create $4.5 million in new tax revenue each year to be used to reimburse Smithfield. The city of Sioux Falls, Minnehaha County, the Tri Valley School District and an electric cooperative district would not get that new incremental revenue until the TIF district ends in 20 years. “The formula is designed to hold the school district harmless when a TIF district is created,” according to a South Dakota Department of Revenue fact sheet. The property is valued at $1.9 million and Smithfield’s payments on that would continue to go toward the county, city, electrical district and the school. By 2030, the estimated value of the property would be more than $230 million.The group said its plan also ensures that treated water is discharged into the Big Sioux River, downstream of heavily populated area. City and Smithfield officials have said at prior meetings, including an information meeting in Crooks, that the Smithfield plant and its wastewater treatment facility will be state of the art.</div></body>

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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — A group that calls itself the Benton Township Bakers Dozen released a plan to build the a new Smithfield plant near the new state men’s prison in northern Sioux Falls. The group said in its emailed news release that the city council should defer a vote on the CUP and TIF district so it can discuss the group’s alternative plan. The news release said the group represents owners and occupants of 13 residential properties “adjacent to the proposed site in Foundation Plant.”

Group says it has a better plan for Smithfield

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