Lead-Deadwood School District might use land for housing development

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - With the influx of people moving into the Black Hills, the Lead-Deadwood School District is considering a move to transform their 185 acres of unused land into a housing development.

In recent years, the Lead-Deadwood school district has had challenges with a decline in student enrollment and a shortage of teachers. Addressing housing issues and economic factors has become critical. The potential development of this project offers hope for those tackling these challenges head-on.

“Over 30% of our staff members in the lead Deadwood School District live outside of the district. So a lot of them live in the Spearfish district, Sturgis district. We even have some people live in like in the Belle Fourche district, some of the Hill City districts,” said Lead-Deadwood School District Superintendent Dr. Erik Person.

According to Person, if the school board fails to approve their plan, the district would leave the land in its current, unused state.

“The school district happens to own it, so we have control over it. It’s not something that we’re going out and purchasing land to do a development or annual school district really doesn’t have the desire to become land developers, but we have this resource. So we’re just right now studying whether it would be beneficial for us to leverage that resource,” said Person.

The school district will present recommendations to the school board Tuesday, July 18, at 5:30 p.m. and encourages the public to participate.

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