Master Development Map

2000 Update:  This 1998 map is outdated with regard to the Other Major Development Sites category.   Most of these parcels now appear to be committed.  Highway and street construction has also been completed or committed for much of the planned infrastructure expansion.  The west portion of the Southeast-southwest Catron Boulevard Connector was just completed and is now being expanded by one lane to accommodate new development.

Master Development Map Information Below

Harney Peak Ranch

Click Here to see Property Description Document

Click Here to see Black Hills Area Map

Click Here to see Topographic Map

The Harney Peak Ranch Master Development Map is adapted from the Master Street Plan Map for the City of Rapid City, South Dakota. The original map was created to show the primary current and future transportation system. The map has been modified to provide other information relevant to the future of the Harney Peak Ranch and the Rapid City area as a whole.

The map is several years old now and some proposed streets shown as dotted lines have been advanced or will be incorporated in ongoing commercial and residential development. The information added to the original map in the form of colored areas is meant to illustrate important community growth fundamentals in a generalized way and shows the approximate size and location of the usage areas described in the key. The Harney Peak Ranch boundary and locational interrelationships are, however, correct and to scale.

What the map shows:

This map is designed to show the interrelationship between the Harney Peak Ranch and the City of Rapid City, South Dakota. Rapid City is the dominant regional trade center along a 700-mile stretch of Interstate 90 Between Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Billings, Montana. Denver, Colorado lies 400 miles to the south along the new Heartland Expressway.  The geographic center of the United States lies only about 70-80 miles to the north.  The Black Hills was predestined to be a natural focus point from the time that this most ancient American mountain range rose from the continental plain.

The once-towering range so altered the seas, rivers and plains of the continent that it became the natural hub and transit point for a vast region. And, from its rising, it created the most naturally sheltered haven along its main eastern tributary onto the plains.  This fertile and protected valley astride Rapid Creek quickly evolved into the premiere Black Hills community and trade center.  Thus, Rapid City became the "Gateway City to the Black Hills". Five National Park Service treasures and all the other scenic features of the surrounding "Black Hills, Badlands and Lakes" region are arrayed around the city, most within less than an hour’s drive.

This array of unique scenery combined with the "Black Hills Banana Belt" weather and "Center of the Nation" location has resulted in America’s most varied and accessible recreational playground.  The technological revolution that has so enriched our lives and nation now makes it possible for people and businesses to live where once they could only vacation (and to vacation in increasing numbers as well).  The map reflects the growth this phenomenon has brought to the Black Hills and its implications for future growth.

The central concept highlighted by the map is that the lands of the Harney Peak Ranch dominate Rapid City’s primary quality growth vector.  This is evidenced by the new major street development adjoining the ranch and the scarcity of quality development sights in other parts of the city.  Despite the regional and national importance of the Shrine of Democracy, there has been no direct passage from through Rapid City to Mount Rushmore since the construction of Interstate 90 nearly four decades ago.

The new Regional Information and Visitors Center is now being built directly North of the Ranch at I-90 Exit 61.  This center will feed future traffic to the Black Hills along the Southeast Corridor Bypass just west of the Harney Peak Ranch, creating the first direct connection to the Black Hills and Mount Rushmore via the Highway 16 Mount Rushmore Expressway.  Virtually every exit from the new connector will feed to the Harney Peak Ranch.  The western ranch lands also front on the Heartland Expressway near its intersection with the new route to Mount Rushmore and the surrounding Black Hills parks and recreation areas.

The red border surrounding the Rapid City area illustrates the crucial importance of the Harney Peak Ranch and surroundings to the future quality growth of the area.  This boundary, on the most superficial level, shows in a general way where Rapid City can efficiently and economically deliver city services.  On a deeper level, it reveals the fact that the availability of infrastructure-accessible land for high-quality development is extremely limited.

In reality, much of the area beyond the line is either developed or committed in some way. These adjoining areas are valuable to the city in a variety of ways. For example, the Rapid City Regional Airport-Ellsworth Air Force Base complex to the east and Black Hills National Forest to the west both contribute to the functional, economic or scenic potential of the area.  Both areas, however, present limitations to high quality development, one because of the scarcity of private land in the national forest and the other because air operations zones will compromise adjoining development options.  To the north and south, both terrain and jurisdictional boundaries limit expansion and infrastructure installation.  Consequently, intensive development will be expensive and difficult.  Despite the wide-open western vistas, top quality real estate with attractive settings and access to community assets and services is limited.   A substantial percentage of this sparse commodity lies within the Harney Peak Ranch boundaries.

The areas shown in gold are substantially developed at this time.   While a variety of small high quality sites remain in the "Committed or Developed" areas, they are increasingly limited in number.  For example, Rapid City’s pine-covered hills and ridges, while wonderful visual assets, are not suitable for intensive future development.  The white areas generally reflect the larger parcels of land that could (but may not) be developed in the best and most valuable ways.   Much of this land could have been just as easily identified as "committed".  Some white areas are probably predestined for fixed types of future usage (i.e. residential or industrial) while others are owned by existing development entities.  It is probable that these entities will manifest high-quality integrated master development.  If not, the pool of land for integrated development would be diminished even further.

Addition scarcity will result from the past and recent purchases of lands adjoining Harney Peak Ranch by wealth individuals whose stated goal is to create private open land reserves.  While this contributes to the quality and beauty of the area, it will decrease the land available for future community growth and enhance the pre-eminence and value of the ranch’s holdings.

What the map doesn’t show:

This type of map cannot show the natural beauty of the area and ranch itself.  Nor does this map show the scenic features such as lakes and streams or the sheltering terrain that creates a protected setting just out of sight of the city.   The ranch is located just far enough from the foothills to provide views of the Harney Peak and the central hills that are not available from the city at large.   Nonetheless, mileage to anyplace in the city center is a single digit number. The "Black Hills Banana Belt" weather, legacy of the Harney Peak Range’s weather deflection, lofts cloud into dramatic Technicolor sunrise and sunset displays of notable reputation.  The mountain backdrop gives the ranch lands the ideal setting for viewing this phenomenon.

Amongst the significant ranch features not shown are the steam and lake corridors in Rapid Valley.  The ranch property is the only location along Rapid Creek where streamside sitings are possible along nearly a mile of frontage.  Additionally, the southern ranch lands are transected by Dry Creek in Brennan Valley and an unnamed Rapid Creek tributary at the Heartland Ranch. The ranch property occupies the transition zone between the prairie and mountain ecosystems. One can find the antelope, giant turtles and burrowing owls of the plains mixed with the foxes, giant herons and deer of the Black Hills.

The proposed Brennan Lake adjoining the Brennan Valley Ranch Unit, announced recently as the region’s number one priority, is not shown on this map but its future site location is denoted. The Rapid City Municipal Boundary is also not shown on the map. It abuts the main ranch unit on the western property line.  Also adjacent to the ranch at this point is Elks Club Golf Course. The well-landscaped course has made the local chapter the eighth largest in the nation and provides the ranch with both next-door recreation and fairway-side development settings. Course design experts tell us that it is considered a high-value course on the basis of its landscaping, level of play and scenery.  Much of the scenery is, of course, the Harney Peak Ranch property, which would, these architects say, provide even better golf settings if available.

There are two last features that cannot be shown on a map but which contribute essential value to the Harney Peak Ranch.  These are the unmatched first-priority territorial water rights and its singular linkage to the pioneers and notable figures of Black Hills and South Dakota history.

The ranch owns the largest holding of crucial first and second priority rights from the 1870s. The current value of the water rights is significant; their future value is inestimable.  The historical ties to the dynamic spirit of the west imbue the Harney Peak Ranch with the heritage and setting to move forward as the prestige centerpiece for the "Gateway to the Black Hills".

Colorful accomplishments aside, if these pioneers and their children and grandchildren had not kept these lands intact in the ranching tradition, they would certainly have been the first developed lands as the city grew.  The resulting open-space creates a legacy of inestimable value for both the ranch and the community.

Summary:

The long term protection given the lands of the Harney Peak Ranch by generations of caring people have created a setpiece western holding that is without peer.   Respect of the land, coupled with its high productivity, has overcome the temptation to compromise this heritage. The result has been a legacy that can be not be duplicated.  The high production agricultural value of the land could support it into the future as desired. At the same time, locational and qualitative attributes create a keynote real estate centerpiece that has no peer.  This is the last and only parcel of this size, regardless of location, that will be available as a single unit.  It is probable that a transfer of ownership status of this property would so affect the scarcity value of high quality real estate as to raise prices in the area across the board.

The ranch, if held in its present form, has unbeatable community long-term appreciation value. The agricultural tax designation and superior agricultural fertility and amenities makes this eminently feasible.  Alternatively, the current buildout value of the land, if the adjoining well-integrated residential development returns were projected onto the total acreage, would approximate one and one half billion dollars today.  If one third of the land were left open, the projected value would still be in the one billion dollar range.

Residential development would not, however, be the highest and best use for much of this land. Highway frontages and streamside, lakeside, and view locations comprise significant portions of the property.  These locations, already a scarce commodity, would command the highest range of commercial and executive values in the future.  And yet, these value aspects aside, the Harney Peak Ranch’s protective terrain affords close-in scenic privacy and Harney Peak vistas that are unmatched this close to the nearby community amenities.

There are singular events in the course of time that create a legacy beyond normal commerce and consideration.  The preserved heritage, space and setting of the Harney Peak Ranch astride the crucial Black Hills Gateway valley is certainly such a singular occurrence. There will never be a repetition of the unique opportunity.   The present real estate dominance and optimum timing create fundamentally incomparable synergy. Perhaps it is fitting that such a bold and historic heritage should hold the promise of such a strong and dynamic future.

Click Here to see Black Hills Area Map