Simplified: The City Council on Tuesday night voted to approve a nearly $90 million tax-increment financing plan to offset the costs of construction for a new Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in northwest Sioux Falls.

Why it matters

  • Before the vote on the TIF, councilors also had to address a conditional use permit related to the project, which resulted in more than a dozen people stepping up to give public input.
    • Business and economic development professionals once again came out in support, and many Crooks and neighboring residents asked the council to oppose, citing concerns about odor, traffic and their own property values.
  • The council approved the permit, as well as three separate items related to the TIF. With that vote, the Smithfield project officially has the council's stamp of approval, with only a few additional conditions attached to the project.
  • Smithfield officials have said without the TIF, they would not build their new $1.3 billion facility in Sioux Falls. And councilors ultimately agreed that keeping the city's fourth-largest employer in town was more important and beneficial to the community in the long run.
"You simply cannot be pro people without being pro economic development," Councilor Rich Merkouris said near the end of a four-hour council meeting, citing the number of people who come to Sioux Falls because of the economic opportunities available here.

Tell me more

In discussing the conditional use permit, councilors amended the permit to require higher berms between the Smithfield property and the surrounding neighborhood. Another discussion point was ensuring many trees are planted on the property's perimeter.

  • Councilors also passed an amendment to require a traffic study to be done before a building permit is approved after several neighbors expressed concerns about the traffic impacts on North Marion Road, Highway 130 and other intersections around the site.
"If we let Smithfield open before that exit (Exit 86 on Interstate 29) is redone we’re going to have a big problem with traffic and accidents," Crooks Mayor Butch Oseby told councilors.

In addition to traffic concerns, one of the big frustrations from homeowners surrounding the Smithfield site was that those across the highway weren't offered buyouts and fear property values dropping.

"We spent 30 years building something I can't replace," resident Marshall Guthrie said, saying when he bought his 21-acre property, it was nothing but corn fields and soybeans around it. "We built out there to live there until we died."

But Councilor Vernon Brown pushed back against some of those concerns – noting that Smithfield's presence in downtown hasn't stopped hundreds of millions of dollars in investment in recent years.

"There are 17,000 people living within a mile of our current plant – many of them downwind – and still, our downtown has thrived," Brown said.

What happens next?

With the TIF plans approved, Smithfield is one step closer to moving to its new site.