RV Ministries Permit vetoed by Mayor Allender

RAPID CITY – Mayor Steve Allender has vetoed the city council’s decision to approve a conditional use permit for RV Ministries at 112 East North St. The location would be used for classes teaching life skills and food support for Rapid City’s homeless population.

The conditional use permit was originally denied by Rapid City’s Planning Commission on May 22 with the citation of safety concerns for patrons of the facility crossing East North St. and the railroad tracks immediately behind the building.

City Council voted to approve the permit after a lengthy discussion on June 15. The vote came to 5-4. Council members Laura Armstrong, Darla Drew, Bill Evans, Lance Lehmann, and Greg Strommen voted in favor of the Ministry. Becky Drury, Chad Lewis, Ritchie Nordstrom and John Roberts voted to uphold the denial. Now, because of Mayor Allender’s veto, the council will re-visit the issue on July 6.

Mayor Allender critically looked at the benefits that were weighed by the City Council.

“Among the pros were the ability to relieve some of the tremendous pressure on the Cornerstone Rescue Mission,” he said. But he continued by saying it was a fallacy because “the mission population has decreased significantly due to social distancing related to COVID-19”

The Cornerstone Rescue Mission has decreased its population significantly due to safety concerns to their patrons in regard to COVID-19 said Lysa Allison, the Cornerstone’s executive director. When asked about the RV Ministries struggle to obtain a conditional use permit she said “I know the RV Ministries has been doing a phenomenal job and I know they want to be more involved in the community, so they should go for it.”

The lack of capacity at the Cornerstone forces Rapid City’s homeless population to put excessive pressure on other resources like The Hope Center. Jerry Sailer, CEO of Black Hills Contraband which is adjacent to The Hope Center, has seen the increase in homeless dependency since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Every day I see the numbers. Every day I see people walking by my business to go to The Hope Center and their numbers are up. There is no denying what your eyes can actually see,” said Sailer. “I think the time is great for our Mayor to step down from the ivory tower for a moment and walk the streets of Rapid City.”

Mayor Allender’s letter also re-hashes the original pedestrian safety concerns brought forth by the Planning Commission.

“I do not believe these factors have been weighed carefully by the council, therefore I do not believe the criteria for allowing a conditional use has been met,” he said “most importantly, we must not allow our emotions, or the good intentions of an applicant to place other, already vulnerable people at undue risk.”

“We have served about 2,600 meals since we moved into The Building,” said current RV Ministry President Holly Soper. “June 21 was our only week that our permit was allowed. No one has been hit by a car or rolled onto the rail road tracks and hit by a train in the 13 weeks we have been serving at the building.”

RV Ministries has already placed signs near East North St. to alert drivers to slow down. The Ministry has also been educating it’s patrons on jay walking and the importance of using a cross walk. Harris and Soper are often seen in front of the building telling people to cross where the law and safety precautions are met.

RV Ministries has also proposed building a chain-link fence around the back of the property that is adjacent to the railroad.

A discrepancy of events is chronicled in Mayor Allender’s official letter of veto. The letter claims that RV Ministries had intended on purchasing the property on East North St. since November of 2019. The letter also states that RV Ministries was operating illegally in April of 2020 after the building had been purchased.

Cathie Harris, former president of the RV Ministries, refutes Mayor Allender’s claims.

“We didn’t even look at the building until January 8,” she said “then we went and talked to the city and planning and zoning and told them before we ever bought the building that this is what we were doing.”

The RV Ministries was operating out of the building in April, but Harris claims that it wasn’t illegal because the Planning Commission gave the Ministry permission to operate there until the conditional use permit was approved.

Harris has expressed discomfort with the Planning Commission unanimously denying the conditional use permit in May after there was no expression of safety concerns to the RV Ministries before the decision was made public.

“They knew exactly where this building was and they had already seen the blueprints,” she said. “Not once did they say anything about the railroad tracks of traffic.”

RV Ministries has already been making steps towards their goal since the City Council had approved the conditional use permit on June 15.

“We already started our food pantry. We’ve got 200 pounds of food yesterday. We just got a freezer, and we have two fridges,” said Harris.

But now, with Mayor Allender’s veto, RV Ministries is forced to put their progress on hold until their conditional use permit is approved. If the permit is denied by city council on July 6, Harris said “we will just go back to serving in our old camper and park it at the skate park like we have been for six years.”

RV Ministries has operated on a $0 budget and has served over 63,000 meals in an RV since the organization’s formation. They have also brought 18 people from homelessness and into paying jobs and stable living situations.

“I love seeing our guests,” said Soper. “I love being able to give a hug and pull up a chair and talk to them about their week and what’s going on in their lives.

A patron of RV Ministry and one of Harris and Soper’s close friends was asked what RV Ministries meant to them while at Sunday’s biscuits and gravy on June 28. They responded by saying “do you see these shoes? These shoes are because of you.”

(Contact Travis at travisldewes@gmail.com)

 

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