City’s Citizen Planning Academy Registration Now Open
Published on September 11, 2024
The City of Sioux Falls is hosting its annual Citizen Planning Academy in October, and residents are encouraged to sign up. The Academy is an opportunity for residents to learn about city planning and development and how they can effectively engage with their community and local government.
The Academy will be held over the course of two 2-hour evening sessions and will cover a range of city planning-related topics like comprehensive plans, public engagement, zoning, l housing, transportation, urban design, and more. The Academy is taught by staff from the City’s Planning and Development Services department.
“By 2050, Sioux Falls is expected to grow from its current population of 213,000 to 370,000, and the metro area could reach half a million people,” said Jeff Schmitt, Planning Projects Coordinator for the City of Sioux Falls. “Geographically, we anticipate growing from 84 to 137 square miles in area by that same time. What do people want that growth to look like? What do neighborhoods look like? How do we move around town? These are critical questions residents need to be thinking about and sharing their vision for now, so that we can address growth and development as a community in a collaborative, strategic, and organized way.”
This year, the Citizen Planning Academy coincides with the public engagement phase of the Shape Sioux Falls 2050 comprehensive plan. Academy attendees will gain a better understanding of how the comprehensive plan is formed and subsequently used to help guide the City’s future growth and development.
“Now is the time to get involved,” Schmitt said. “Oftentimes, residents learn about and interact with the City’s planning and zoning standards when they are facing an issue with their home or in their neighborhood. What many don’t realize is that standards today were discussed and decided many years ago via a long-range plan. Through the annual Academy and with our current update of Shape Sioux Falls 2050, we want to emphasize the importance of getting involved early and help empower residents to share their vision for the community.”
The Academy will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, October 7 and Thursday, October 24 at City Center (231 North Dakota Avenue), and online through Webex. The Academy is free and open to the public. Registration is required and participants can select topics they are interested in on the registration form. City staff will tailor the Academy’s subject matter based on participants’ interests.