RAPID CITY, SD – On June 4, 2026, the Rapid City Planning Commission considered four simultaneous rezoning requests covering 562.68 acres of active mining and cement plant operations within Rapid City limits.
The petitioner on all four requests was listed as the City of Rapid City Community Development Department — acting on behalf of GCC Dacotah, Inc.
The properties have operated outside Rapid City’s local zoning framework since at least December 28, 2000. The state sold the cement plant to GCC Dacotah, Inc. in 2001. By the city’s own account in the project reports, no local zoning district was established on the property in the 25 years that followed.
Four Ordinances, One Company
The four rezoning requests, each originating at the June 4 Planning Commission meeting and each staffed by Current Planning Division Manager Jessica Olson, propose the following changes:
26RZ008 — 144.49 acres, north of W. Chicago Street west of Cement Plant Road. Proposed rezoning from SDCL 11-4-30 to Cement Plant District. Planning Commission recommendation: Approved unanimously
26RZ009 — 396.87 acres, between Sturgis Road and Railroad right-of-way, north of W. Chicago Street. Proposed rezoning from SDCL 11-4-30 to Mining and Earth Resources Extraction District. Planning Commission recommendation: Approved 8-1 with Revised Legal.
26RZ010 — 0.78 acres, northwest of the intersection of Industrial Avenue and Cement Plant Road. Proposed rezoning from Light Industrial District to Cement Plant District. Planning Commission recommendation: Approved unanimously
26RZ011 — 20.54 acres comprising two parcels at 4245 Hidden Valley Road and 2211 Deadwood Avenue. Proposed rezoning from Low Density Residential District 1 to Mining and Earth Resources Extraction District. Planning Commission recommendation: Continued to July 9, 2026.
The fiscal impact table on each application was left blank.
The Neighborhoods Effected by the RetroZone
Of the four rezoning requests, one stands apart.
Case 26RZ011 proposes changing the zoning of two parcels — addressed as 4245 Hidden Valley Road and 2211 Deadwood Avenue — from Low Density Residential District 1 to Mining and Earth Resources Extraction District.
Low Density Residential District 1 is exactly what it sounds like. It is the zoning designation for neighborhoods. Houses. Families. Streets with names like Hidden Valley Road, Saint Martins Drive, Jericho Way, Grace Way.
The city’s own project report for 26RZ011 describes 4245 Hidden Valley Road as currently undeveloped. It describes 2211 Deadwood Avenue as already being used as part of a larger mining operation.
That second description is worth pausing on. A parcel with a residential street address — 2211 Deadwood Avenue — carrying a residential zoning designation — is already being actively used for mining. Not proposed for mining. Not planned for mining. Currently used for mining. Under residential zoning.The project report does not explain how long that has been the case.
The adjacent property table in the 26RZ011 project report documents what surrounds these parcels:
To the north: Mining and SDCL 11-4-30. Existing use: vacant and mining.
To the south: General Agriculture District and SDCL 11-4-30. Existing use: vacant and mining.
To the east: Light Industrial and SDCL 11-4-30. Existing use: mining.
To the west: Low Density Residential District 1 and SDCL 11-4-30. Existing use: residential and mining.
In plain language: these two parcels sit inside an operational mining footprint, surrounded on all four sides by either active mining or residential development that itself borders mining operations.
The city’s staff finding under Rezoning Criteria #3 — which asks whether the rezoning will adversely affect any other part of the city — states the following: “A review of the criteria listed in Rapid City Municipal Code § 17.54.040.D has not identified any adverse impacts associated with the Rezoning request.”
No adverse impacts.
The Planning Commission did not approve 26RZ011 on June 4. It was continued to the July 9, 2026 Planning Commission meeting.
The three other rezoning requests — 26RZ008, 26RZ009, and 26RZ010 — were approved and are scheduled for City Council first reading on June 15, 2026.
The Committee That Didn’t See It – LFO
Under normal municipal procedure, ordinances with legal and financial implications are routed through Rapid City’s Legal and Finance Committee — known as LFO — before reaching the full City Council for a vote.
The June 10, 2026 LFO agenda included 21 items. Ordinances 6717 and 6727 appeared for second readings. Routine items including IT purchases, tax increment financing amendments, property transfers, and municipal code corrections all received committee review.
Ordinances 6719 and 6720 — the GCC Dacotah rezoning ordinances — did not appear on the LFO agenda. They were not routed through the Legal and Finance Committee. The GCC Dacotah rezoning ordinances were not discussed at the June 10, 2026 Legal and Finance Committee meeting.
They proceed directly to City Council first reading on June 15, 2026.
The GCC Dacotah rezoning ordinances were not discussed at the June 10, 2026 Legal and Finance Committee meeting.
The Rapid City Municipal Code is current through Ordinance 6701, passed December 23, 2025. Ordinances 6719 and 6720 do not yet appear in the published municipal code.
Hidden in Plain Sight
The South Dakota State Cement Plant Commission sold the cement plant property to GCC Dacotah, Inc. in 2001. The United States was a different country that year. The September 11 attacks had not yet happened. The iPhone did not exist. Rapid City’s current mayor was not yet in office.
For the 25 years that followed, 562.68 acres of active mining and cement plant operations functioned inside Rapid City’s boundaries without a local zoning district. No local building permits were required. No local zoning regulations applied. The city had no regulatory mechanism to review new construction on the property.
The city’s own project reports, filed June 4, 2026, state this plainly: “Zoning does not affect state-owned properties because they are not required to obtain building permits from the local jurisdiction.”
The property was never state-owned during those 25 years. It was privately owned. By a foreign-owned corporation.
During that same period, in 2016, a major plant expansion was completed. The governor attended. The mayor attended. No zoning update followed. The Sentinel has previously reported that the property’s tax assessment was not updated to reflect the expansion.
The fiscal impact tables on all four rezoning applications filed in 2026 were left blank.
Now, a quarter century later, the city is not imposing new regulations on GCC Dacotah. It is not expanding oversight. It is not recovering lost tax revenue. It is retroactively rezoning the property to match what has already been happening there — formalizing 25 years of municipal level unregulated industrial and mining operations adjacent to Rapid City neighborhoods.
The city’s own language in each project report describes the purpose of the rezoning as being “consistent with the direction of SDCL § 11-4-30” — to match the zoning to the existing use.
In plain language: the city is changing the map to match the ground. Not the other way around.
Residents along Hidden Valley Road, Saint Martins Drive, Jericho Way, Grace Way, and Deadwood Avenue have lived adjacent to those operations for as long as GCC Dacotah has owned the property.
The City Council takes up the first reading of the GCC Dacotah rezoning ordinances on June 15, 2026.
Your Voice, Your Government
On June 15, 2026, the Rapid City City Council will hold the first reading of the GCC Dacotah rezoning ordinances.
First readings are public meetings. Citizens have the right to attend and to address the council during public comment.
A second reading is currently scheduled for July 6, 2026. The rezoning of the residential parcels at 4245 Hidden Valley Road and 2211 Deadwood Avenue — case 26RZ011 — remains pending before the Planning Commission, with a continuation date of July 9, 2026.
These are the moments in the public record where citizen voices become part of the official documentation of these decisions.
If you live near Sturgis Road, Hidden Valley Road, Deadwood Avenue, Saint Martins Drive, or anywhere in the neighborhoods adjacent to the GCC Dacotah operations, your presence at these meetings is your voice in your own governance.
City Council meetings are held at Rapid City Council Chambers, 300 Sixth Street. Meeting agendas are posted at rcgov.org.
Sources
Rapid City Planning Commission agenda item summaries 26RZ008, 26RZ009, 26RZ010, and 26RZ011, posted June 4, 2026; Rapid City Legal and Finance Committee agenda, June 10, 2026; Rapid City Municipal Code current through Ordinance 6701; South Dakota Codified Law § 11-4-30.
This report is part of an ongoing series on GCC Dacotah, Inc., a foreign-owned cement and mining operation, and its relationship with Rapid City municipal government spanning more than two decades.
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