Post by blackcrowheart on May 1, 2007 12:17:51 GMT -5
Senate kills Bear Butte zoning bill
By Bill Harlan, Journal staff
A Senate committee killed a bill Wednesday that would have
subjected county zoning decisions to public votes. Sen. Tom Katus,
D-Rapid City, sponsored the bill, saying it was in response to protests
about bars and concert venues encroaching on Bear Butte during the
Sturgis motorcycle rally.
Katus told members of the Senate State Affairs Committee that many
tribes consider Bear Butte sacred. “This is the same as their
wailing wall, their Dome of the Rock; this is the same as Rome to most
of the native people who practice the traditional religions,” he
said.
Katus said the Meade County Commission had refused to allow a countywide
vote on a related issue.
Sen. Mac McCracken, R-Rapid City, wondered whether allowing voters to
refer planning and zoning decisions would slow development.
“Would this make development in a community more
difficult?” he asked. “I’m talking about
multi-million dollar developments.”
“Quite possibly,” Katus said. But he added, “The
voters of the county should have the right to refer that.”
Katus said he supported the motorcycle rally, but he also argued,
“There are other values other than just bottom line greedy
capitalism and there are religious issues, especially for the
Lakota.”
State Agriculture Secretary Larry Gabriel spoke against the measure.
“I understood Sen. Katus when he talked about Bear Butte, but
this bill goes much, much further than that,” Gabriel said.
“It touches everyone in South Dakota.”
Yvonne Taylor, representing the South Dakota Municipal League, also
opposed the bill, saying people already can refer to public votes zoning
ordinances themselves. After the ordinances are in place, she said, they
should apply to everyone. “This is trying to make us pick and
choose who the rules apply to,” she said.
Speaking in favor of the bill, Ed Raventon of the South Dakota Resources
Coalition said “one man, one vote” and “local
control” were “at the very heart of the democratic process
in America.”
Sen. Ed Olson, R-Mitchell, said America was a representative democracy.
“If we want to be Switzerland, let’s be
Switzerland,” he said.
But he didn’t want to be Switzerland, and neither did the
committee, which voted 7-2 to kill the measure without a vote of the
full Senate.
By Bill Harlan, Journal staff
A Senate committee killed a bill Wednesday that would have
subjected county zoning decisions to public votes. Sen. Tom Katus,
D-Rapid City, sponsored the bill, saying it was in response to protests
about bars and concert venues encroaching on Bear Butte during the
Sturgis motorcycle rally.
Katus told members of the Senate State Affairs Committee that many
tribes consider Bear Butte sacred. “This is the same as their
wailing wall, their Dome of the Rock; this is the same as Rome to most
of the native people who practice the traditional religions,” he
said.
Katus said the Meade County Commission had refused to allow a countywide
vote on a related issue.
Sen. Mac McCracken, R-Rapid City, wondered whether allowing voters to
refer planning and zoning decisions would slow development.
“Would this make development in a community more
difficult?” he asked. “I’m talking about
multi-million dollar developments.”
“Quite possibly,” Katus said. But he added, “The
voters of the county should have the right to refer that.”
Katus said he supported the motorcycle rally, but he also argued,
“There are other values other than just bottom line greedy
capitalism and there are religious issues, especially for the
Lakota.”
State Agriculture Secretary Larry Gabriel spoke against the measure.
“I understood Sen. Katus when he talked about Bear Butte, but
this bill goes much, much further than that,” Gabriel said.
“It touches everyone in South Dakota.”
Yvonne Taylor, representing the South Dakota Municipal League, also
opposed the bill, saying people already can refer to public votes zoning
ordinances themselves. After the ordinances are in place, she said, they
should apply to everyone. “This is trying to make us pick and
choose who the rules apply to,” she said.
Speaking in favor of the bill, Ed Raventon of the South Dakota Resources
Coalition said “one man, one vote” and “local
control” were “at the very heart of the democratic process
in America.”
Sen. Ed Olson, R-Mitchell, said America was a representative democracy.
“If we want to be Switzerland, let’s be
Switzerland,” he said.
But he didn’t want to be Switzerland, and neither did the
committee, which voted 7-2 to kill the measure without a vote of the
full Senate.