Dollar deal gives Skyline land to city

By Scott Aust, Journal Staff Writer | Thursday, January 04, 2007

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RAPID CITY -- Applause broke out Tuesday night after the city accepted 150 acres of undeveloped land along the Skyline Drive ridgeline for the princely sum of $1, marking the end of more than a decade of work.

"This is a great day for Rapid City in the sense that we're able to preserve this as a public park, as a public open space, natural wilderness area forevermore," Mayor Jim Shaw said.

Individuals, groups and city officials have been working for many years to acquire and preserve 150 acres of land as natural open space for walking, mountain biking and general enjoyment.

Roger Heacock, a board member of Skyline Drive Preservation, Inc., a nonprofit group that has been working for several years to preserve the property in order to turn it over to the city, said the group was excited to finally see the effort come to fruition.

"This could not have happened without the contributions of many, many donors of both property and cash, and the support of a lot of people. It wouldn't have happened without all the support," Heacock said.

For the past few weeks, the preservation group and the city wrangled over the terms of a conservation easement, an agreement that says how the property would be preserved and designed as a more formal means to ensure that the land would remain in its natural state.

The Skyline group had wanted the easement as an added assurance, but in the end, the terms could not be worked out. So, the preservation group offered a quit-claim deed to the city.

City attorney Jason Green said the quit claim is a common mechanism that allows property to be transferred quickly.

"There are a number of kinds of deeds. There's a general warranty deed, a special warranty deed and a quit-claim deed," he said. "Quit claim just says, 'Whatever I got, you got. I'm not making any other promises.'"

Green said the agreement requires the city to keep the land as open space for public use.

Skyline board members indicated that the group is satisfied with the quit claim.

"We're satisfied that what we've agreed upon is going to be good," Bill Kessloff said. "It satisfies the intent of our board, our donors and the community and that's to preserve it in a natural state in perpetuity."

Alderman Karen Gunderson Olson was delighted that an agreement had been reached and said creating a place of beauty within the center of the city speaks well of Rapid City and its citizens.

"This is an excellent step forward and something that will benefit our community," she said.

Olson said that the contribution of the many people who donated to the effort throughout the years should not go unrecognized.

"I would urge our community to say thank you to those individuals who have contributed in a lot of different ways. I'm not going to list them all because there's quite a lot of them, but they are a part of this wonderful gift to the community," she said.

Shaw also praised the efforts of the Skyline preservation group.

"They've done an outstanding job bringing this to fruition," he said.

Shaw also referred to an old Rapid City land use plan prepared shortly after World War II that included a suggestion that the city should acquire the Skyline property.

"At that time, this area of Skyline Drive was not in the city limits," he said. "The consultants way back then said it would be a good idea for the city to acquire this ridgeline and preserve it as open space."

About $2.3 million was raised throughout the years to buy the land and preserve it, including a contribution of $737,000 last year from the city's Vision 2012 fund that was used to pay off the mortgage on the property.

Before the land is turned over to the city, approximately $20,000 in back taxes must be paid. Heacock said the group has received pledges to cover that amount, but additional donations would be welcome because they could be used to enhance interpretive displays and signs.

Donations may be sent to Skyline Drive Preservation, Inc.; P.O. Box 1420; Rapid City, SD 57709.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415, or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com