RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Rapid City Council on Monday night approved the Cornerstone Rescue Mission’s appeal for a conditional use permit to create a respite care facility in south Rapid City.
The initial attempt to receive the needed conditional use permit was denied by the Rapid City Planning commission in their October 10 meeting. Cornerstone wants to transform the former Big Sky Lodge, located at 4080 Tower Road, into a facility for recovering patients who are too sick to stay at the Mission but not sick enough to remain in the hospital.
There were 36 individuals who spoke during the meeting about the respite care facility with 18 in support of the respite facility and 18 against it. Of those who spoke against it, 17 speakers identified as residents of the neighborhood near where the respite care facility would be located. Almost all of them said that they supported a respite care facility, they just wanted it somewhere else.
After hearing the appeal and public comment from more than thirty community members, the council voted 6-3 to overrule the Planning Commission’s denial of the conditional use permit.
