There are very few things that garner more attention than a new restaurant in Sioux Falls.

And I use the term restaurant in the loosest sense, as we all know that any sort of meandering franchise operation can come to town and everybody loses bladder control for about three weeks. You know what I'm talking about.

So if you want to throw your friends into a tizzy and be seen as master of all restaurant news, pay attention to the Sioux Falls Planning Commission agenda.

Citizen boards and commissions in general are a great source of information on all sorts of city happenings.

There are several new restaurants and bars coming with a few coming before the Planning Commission on Wednesday (April 4):

  • A new restaurant and bar at the corner of East 41st Street and Veterans Parkway, near Harmodon Park. This project has been reported before but there are details in the application, including that because it's near a park it's considered a sensitive location that could get some extra examination.
  • An Ethiopian restaurant near West 12th Street and Garfield Avenue, which is a older strip center a couple blocks east of Kiwanis Avenue.
  • A video lottery joint on East 10th Street near Sycamore Avenue. This might get some added attention from the Planning Commission and eventually the City Council because the people behind are among the largest video lottery providers in the city. Here's what we know from the application:

 

"The proposed tenant will occupy a pizza restaurant that is vacating the multi-tenant strip mall and also next door to Crown Casino. A parking lot exists to the north. A strip of storage units exist to the south that separates strip mall from the apartment buildings."

And that's just one meeting. Pay attention to the Planning Commission and you can be ahead of everybody around the water cooler or watering hole. That's the kind of things news reporters look for, though they'd probably go a little deeper and get comment or details on a project.

That's what you'll see from Jodi Schwan at SiouxFalls.Business.

And Scott Ehrisman at SouthDaCola.com goes through agendas with regularity and reports them on his blog.

Of course, it's more than just restaurants. You can find out what's happening with housing developments, retail and major development just by checking in with the Planning Commission.

See also:

More From KIKN-FM / Kickin' Country 99.1/100.5