Hwy. 16A project will detour onto county roads

A state project that will replace culverts, see new asphalt surfacing, repair in-slope erosion and improving the intersection of Hwy. 16A and Wildlife Loop Road in Custer State Park is underway and will run through next summer.
Custer County Highway Department superintendent Jess Doyle talked about the project at the Sept. 3 meeting of the Custer County Commission, saying the project will detour motorists off Hwy. 16A to county gravel roads, including Rittberger Road, Cobb Road and LH Road.
Doyle said the entirety of the project is under the care of the South Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT), and as such, all questions regarding the project should be directed to the DOT.
Construction will be paused Sept. 23-28 for the annual Buffalo Roundup, and the closure with detour is set to begin Sept. 29 and will last through early April.
Motorists can direct questions to DOT Custer area project engineer Matt Rippentrop at 605-673-4948 or can find more information at dot.sd.gov/16A-culverts.
Doyle also addressed an upcoming county culvert project that will see culvert replaced on the portion of America Center Road that crosses French Creek. Grant money from the Rural Access Infrastructure Fund Program will pay for the culverts, and there is also money in the highway budget to help with the project.
Because of the location of the project, Doyle said, the work will be done at night with the help of floodlights. The hope is doing so will minimize traffic, as there will be a 25-mile detour for the project.
The commission also heard from residents of Big Valley Trail Road District at the meeting, who pleaded with the commission to revisit an easement given to a resident who lives outside the Fork Creek II Subdivision but is part of the road district. The person uses Big Valley Trail to access a private parcel through which they were granted an easement, which in turn they use to access their land. The plat of the easement was approved by the county.
At the time the easement was given the access was for a home. Since that time the home has been purchased and made into a vacation rental, with subdivision owners saying frequent traffic is coming and going through their area at all hours of the night and disrupting their quality of life.
Dani Schade, a resident  of the subdivision, read a letter from fellow Big Valley Trail resident Ainsworth Hagen saying the commission should require submission of a new request or require the property owner to create a new access road to their land while it is being used commercially. The Big Valley Trail representatives say there is access to the property off North Pole Road, for which an easement was granted by the U.S. Forest Service. However, the land has since been subdivided, so the road off North Pole Road cannot be used without an easement given by the landowners who own the land between North Pole Road and the land where the vacation rental sits
“Without the commissioners’ help, there is little the property owners can do to address the concerns that our community is bringing to your attention,” Hagen wrote in the letter.
Another resident of Big Valley Trail, Thomas Veigh, told the commission the issues are slowly getting worse, and cited the county’s Ordnance No. 2 as advising the county to adopt and enforce regulations “designed for the purpose of promoting healthy, safety and general welfare of the county.
Veigh said the vacation rental was “nowhere in the picture” when access was  granted by the county. She said nobody in the neighborhood was ever informed about the subdivision of the land.
Veigh said adequate access to the property was already there, but “it’s not as convenient as driving down our road.”
Veigh said the residents of Big Valley Trail do not “care if they build Disneyland back there and make a million,” but that they do not have the right to build it off their road without permission.
“Make him access his Disneyland off North Pole Road, which was initially the access granted them by the Forest Service,” he said.
Veigh said he would like to see the property taxed as commercial instead of residential, and said the current owner “has been real belligerent” with everyone in the neighborhood.
“(He said) his family has owned the property for years, and he can do whatever he wants,” Veigh said.
The commission told the Big Valley Trail residents in attendance they must first take the issue to the county’s planning commission, and it can work its way through the county channels.
 In other news from the Sept. 3 meeting, the commission:
• Heard from county weed and pest director Mike Baldwin, who said the Forest Service is working on an update to its Forest Plan Revision, with controversy stemming from the amount of suitable timber for harvest in the Black Hills. Baldwin said some feel the amount listed as suitable is too low, while others feel it is too high. The Forest Service plans to contract with the University of Montana to do a third- party audit of the model, and the University of Wyoming will facilitate the meetings. Each county is invited to have a representative at the meetings.
A consultant was hired in 2022 to help with the revision process, with various counties chipping in money to fund the consultant. Custer County was not among those that gave money. Baldwin said he received an email asking if Custer County planned to give any money for the upcoming revision. Baldwin said there hasn’t been much movement on the revision since 2022, when the draft assessment was released.
Commissioner Craig Hindle asked Baldwin to supply an overview of how the money other counties gave was spent, which he said he would do.
• Postponed discussion on whether or not to allow full health benefits for county employees who work 24 hour weeks. The issue was raised by human resources director Amber Maidens, who recommended the county take the step to do so, saying it is a workforce strategy in a competitive labor market.
“We must remain proactive in retaining skilled employees and in showing that Custer County is a supportive and desirable place to work,” she said.
“I think we need to think outside the box with our employees, but I don’t want to rush into anything.” commissioner Mark Hartman said.
• Heard from Scott Storm, director of equalization, who told the commission about the annual letter being sent to people in Township 3, Range 4 who seek to apply for ag status for their land for the assessment year 2026. The area is immediately around Custer outside of the city limtis and states as the county is doing reappraisal of the area, it is also having anyone who has property that is already classified as ag to reapply for their ag status to continue. The application must be turned in to the county by Nov. 1.