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2026-08-25 - Joint Sioux Falls City Council - Lincoln County Commission Meeting

Summary

Built from the official approved minutes (adjourned 8:12 PM). No agenda or video on file.

  • Joint meeting of the Sioux Falls City Council and the Lincoln County Commission. City side present: Oppenheimer, Pankonin, Sigette, Spellerberg, Thomason, Basye, Merkouris and Okuwe. Absent: Mayor Erickson.
  • Lincoln County commissioners present: Joel Arends, Tiffany Landeen, Herman Otten, Doug A. Putnam and Jim Schmidt. None absent.
  • Agenda approved 8-0 (Sigette, Spellerberg).
  • Only business: Resolution 92-26 adopting the joint Lincoln County/City of Sioux Falls Shape Sioux Falls 2050 Comprehensive Plan, sponsored by the Mayor.
  • Lincoln County Commission first moved to pass the plan with two amendments: (1) a hearing on a moratorium on hyperscale data centers on the last Tuesday of September at 7 p.m., and (2) a ban on joint-jurisdiction agreements with non-governmental parties that require confidentiality or nondisclosure, such agreements to be public records. That motion failed.
  • The Commission then passed a substitute motion to adopt the plan with an amendment that the City Council and Commission meet again in October for a discussion with the community, set for the last Tuesday in October at 7 p.m.
  • Council side: Thomason moved and Spellerberg seconded to adopt Resolution 92-26. Pankonin moved and Thomason seconded the October-meeting amendment; passed 8-0. The resolution was adopted as amended, 8-0 on roll call.
  • Public input covered data centers (potential discussions, terminology, moratoriums, financial and water supply impacts, EMF radiation), creating public advisory boards for ordinances, thanks to the Council for listening, enforcing rules and listening to voters.
  • Adjourned 8:12 PM on a voice vote, 8-0 (Spellerberg, Sigette). Minutes signed by Jermery J. Washington, City Clerk.

Shape Sioux Falls 2050 Comprehensive Plan

  • Resolution 92-26 adopts the amended Shape Sioux Falls 2040 plan as the Shape Sioux Falls 2050 Comprehensive Plan for the joint planning area, superseding the 2040 plan. The joint Planning Commission held a public hearing March 17, 2026 and the two bodies held a joint public hearing August 25, 2026.
  • Adopted as amended, 8-0 by the Council. The Lincoln County vote counts are not recorded in the minutes; its first motion (two amendments) failed and its substitute motion passed.
  • Follow-up: joint community meeting on the last Tuesday of October (October 27) at 7 p.m., see 2026-10-27 - Joint Sioux Falls City Council - Lincoln County Commission Meeting.

Hyperscale Data Center Moratorium

  • The proposed moratorium hearing was part of the failed first Lincoln County motion; it was not in the plan as adopted. Much of the public input addressed data centers.

Sources