NORTH SIOUX CITY — Federal regulators will require North Sioux City officials to jump through more hoops than initially anticipated before construction can ramp up on an expansion of Graham Airpark and development of a city industrial park.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is requiring completion of an environmental study of the area before it grants a permit to build a new levee along the nearby Big Sioux River, a step that must be completed before the current levee can be removed to open up the land for development.
"That process is probably going to take us longer than previously thought," North Sioux City administrator Eric Christensen said.
How much longer? Up to 18-24 months, Christensen said.
"The process is what it is," he said.
A wind sock and taxiway is shown at Graham Airfield in North Sioux City. An airport expansion project calls for a runway expansion and added h…
Instead of getting to work on installing utilities and building streets in the 95-acre business park this spring, the city must wait, perhaps until 2025 to begin construction. It could also lead to delays in closing on the purchase of an additional 345 acres the city has agreed to buy from Graham Aviation, which sold the 95-acre plot to the city, closing on the sale last fall. Christensen said financing is approved, but some details remain.
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Despite the delay, North Sioux City continues efforts to attract new business and industry. Flynn Business Park, which is adjacent to the 95-acre site, still has a few plots available, and land is available in other locations.
"We still have some other land for people to develop in North Sioux City," Christensen said.
North Sioux City city administrator Eric Christensen shows land at the intersection of Rickenbacker and Waters roads that the city has bought …
In the fall of 2021, the North Sioux City Council agreed to buy approximately 440 acres of land from Graham Aviation, which operates Graham Airport, for more than $13 million.
The 95-acre site would be developed in a first phase. The 345-acre purchase, located west and northwest of the 95-acre site and also stretching east and northeast of the airport to the Big Sioux River, would be developed in a second phase.
Plans call for industrial development as well as 120 acres of much-needed housing.
To enable the development, the city wants to relocate three miles of flood-protection levee running through the property closer to the Big Sioux River. That portion of the plan requires collaboration with and approval from the Corps of Engineers and led to the order for an environmental assessment.
The sale of land to the city will facilitate Graham Aviation owner Stephen F. Jones' plans to expand the airport and develop commercial and residential properties on airport-owned land. His plans include construction of commercial and residential properties with runway access.
In a news release in September, Jones said the $17 million first phase of the project would expand the runway from 5,400 feet to 6,600 feet and develop the west taxiway and airplane landing systems.
"This will allow large corporate aircraft and general aviation to have the ability to call southeast South Dakota home," Jones said in the news release.
Development plans also include commercial hangar lots east of the runway providing businesses with an airplane hangar and runway access. Other commercial lots without runway access are planned to the east of the airport.
Also planned are residential airpark lots southwest of the runway that will have private hangars from which owners can taxi to the runway. The master plan also shows additional residential development farther from the airport.
Eric Rosenbaum, a Union County historian, talks about his research into a North Sioux City site beside Interstate 29 where human remains from the 1800s were found in the summer of 2014.
