For Immediate Release
City of Sioux Falls Looks to Build Upon Momentum Going Into 2025
Sioux Falls, South Dakota: This week, Mayor Paul TenHaken, alongside several city leaders, reflected on the milestones achieved and challenges faced in 2024 while looking ahead to what’s in store for the community in 2025.
Mayor TenHaken categorized 2024 into four themes:
- Well-managed growth
- Responding to challenges efficiently
- Casting a vision
- Collaboration
The City began or completed several projects in 2024 that take care of the community’s needs today. Examples include improving more than 45 miles of road, opening two diverging diamond interchanges, approving a $773.2 million budget for 2025, running a recruitment campaign for the first time to attract potential police officers, and reimagining public transit.
“We are keeping Sioux Falls investible by strategically planning for growth in every direction,” said Mayor TenHaken. “Challenges and obstacles are inevitable during this time of record growth, but we are prepared to address challenges head-on in the year ahead, just as we did in 2024.”
The community experienced three 911 outages, flooding in June, and started some tough this year, like addressing the issue of homelessness head-on. The City hired its first homelessness services coordinator, Michelle Treasure, to help strengthen collaboration between all partners in this space.
“Sioux Falls is not on the trajectory it is today by happenstance. It’s because of visionary leaders past and present who have strategically planned for our growth and dreamt big in the process,” said TenHaken. “Transformational initiatives take time, but thinking big is how we will move our community forward.”
A bold 2050 vision for the Riverline District was announced in early 2024 with the idea of a new, modern, and appropriately-sized convention center built downtown and repurposing the existing convention center space into year-round indoor recreation space for all ages. Fulfilling the community’s desire for indoor recreation space has been a vision for Sioux Falls and started to come to fruition with the acquisition of the Westside Recreation Center and through the Aquatics and Recreation Bond that will be brought to the City Council in early 2025.
Next year will bring a continued focus on crime and public safety, streets and infrastructure, and growth that is supported by a vision for the community.
- The Sioux Falls Police Department will be able to add seven officers to strengthen its workforce.
- Conversations surrounding homelessness and the collaboration needed to support the services for those experiencing homelessness will continue into 2025.
- The new year will bring major street projects, including:
- Reconstruction of the intersection at Arrowhead Parkway and Veterans Parkway
- Continued construction of South Veterans Parkway
- Reconstruction of the interchange at I-229 and Cliff Avenue
- A new interchange at I-29 and 85th Street
- The expansion of the water reclamation plant, the largest project in Public Works history, is expected to be completed in 2025. It will increase the plant’s capacity from 21 million to 30 million gallons per day.
- By the end of 2025, the City will publish its updated comprehensive plan called Shape Sioux Falls 2050, which will guide future growth and development in the community and cast a vision for how the community will continue to grow in every direction.
“Sioux Falls is experiencing an incredible amount of momentum right now, and it’s the intentional collaboration in the public and private sectors that have led us to this point,” said TenHaken. “It’s important we build upon these strong relationships and continue to work together to keep our community a place where people want to live, work, play, start a business, and raise a family.”
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