Group opposed to Cabela's land giveaway forms

'No Free Lunch Committee' members say city offers big retailers 'corporate welfare'

By Scott Aust, Journal staff | Thursday, August 30, 2007

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RAPID CITY -- People opposed to the incentive Rapid City granted to lure Cabela's to town have organized a committee to help make their case to voters before the Sept. 18 special election.

Voters will then decide whether to support or reject the city council's decision in June to transfer 30 acres of land north of Interstate 90 where the Black Hills Visitor Information Center is located to the Rapid City Economic Development Foundation and then on to Cabela's.

The "No Free Lunch Committee" consists of a group of five or six active members who have a variety of opinions about city development and the use of tools such as tax increment financing but who agree on at least one thing: They oppose giving land to Cabela's.

Committee member Don Frankenfeld says the group is not opposed to Cabela' -- they think it will be a good addition to Rapid City -- but they are opposed to subsidizing the company.

"We do see this as a continuation of a trend that we think has been characterized by blank checks, essentially, from the mayor and council to large corporate developers, most of whom are very wealthy and don't need blank checks from Rapid City taxpayers," he said.

The land transfer is part of three agreements that the council approved as an incentive package to lure outdoor outfitter Cabela's to Rapid City.

Cabela's plans to build an 80,000-square-foot store less than a mile west of the visitor-center land as part of a larger Foursquare Properties retail center on 70 acres near Dyess Avenue and East Mall Drive.

Other parts of the Cabela's incentive package include $2 million in economic development funds and relocating the visitor center inside the new Cabela's.

Those agreements are not part of the special election, and neither is the TIF approved for the site. Relocating the visitor center appears to be off the table entirely because Cabela's officials told the city three weeks ago they would deed back the building and about three acres of surrounding land to the city if the land transfer is approved.

The special election ballot explanation refers to June's agreements but does not mention Cabela's. It says the land transfer to the economic development foundation is for economic development purposes.

Janet Smith, treasurer of the committee, said in a news release that it's wrong to give Cabela's, a $2 billion public company with profits of $90 million per year, millions in subsidies as "corporate welfare."

Frankenfeld said he is not absolutely opposed to subsidies but thinks a clear benefit to taxpayers must be shown before a subsidy is granted by doing a detailed cost-benefit analysis and feasibility study.

"That certainly is not being made with the Cabela's subsidy," he said. "Nobody is challenging the motives of the mayor or city council; we're challenging their judgment."

Frankenfeld said the committee hopes to enlist help from individuals in the community to help get out its message urging voters to reject the land transfer on the Sept. 18 ballot.

"We're going to require those kinds of resources if we're going to have a ghost of a chance of winning. We're up against a David versus Goliath type of proposition," he said. "We are going to be outspent and out-organized, and I would concede probably outsmarted because there are a bunch of high-class professionals on the other side of this thing and we're a bunch of dedicated amateurs with no vested interest and no payroll."

A public forum about the Cabela's incentives, sponsored by the Rapid City Area Chamber of Commerce and the Rapid City Weekly News, has been scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 10, at the Alpine Ponderosa Room at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

Frankenfeld said people interested in helping the No Free Lunch committee should contact Fred Weishaupl at 342-1928.

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