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| Site Courtesy of |
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| We Locate Property |
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| Disclaimer: We strive for accuracy but acknowledge we are fallable. Tell us our errors and offences. |
The Code of the West was first chronicled by the famous western writer, Zane Grey. The men and women who came to this part of the country during the westward expansion of the United States were bound by an unwritten code of conduct. The values of integrity and self-reliance guided their decisions, actions and interactions. In keeping with that spirit, we offer this information to help the citizens of Pennington County who wish to follow the footsteps of those rugged individualists by living outside city limits. It is important for you to know that life in the country is different from life in the city. County governments are not able to provide the same level of service that city governments provide. To that end, we are providing you with the following information to help you make an educated and informed decision to purchase rural land.The fact that you can drive to your property does not necessarily guarantee that you, your guests and emergency service vehicles can achieve that same level of access at all times. Please consider:Emergency response times (sheriff, fire suppression, medical care, etc.) cannot be guaranteed. Under some extreme conditions you may find that emergency response may be extremely slow and expensive.There can be problems with the legal aspects of access, especially if you gain access across property belonging to the You can experience problems with the maintenance and cost of maintenance of your road. Pennington County maintains 862 miles/1379 kilometers of roads, but many rural properties are served by private and public roads which are maintained by private road associations. There are even some county roads that are not maintained by the county - no grading or snow plowing. There are even some public roads that are not maintained by anyone! Make sure you know what type of maintenance to expect and who will provide that maintenance.Extreme weather conditions can destroy roads. It is wise to determine whether or not your road was properly engineered and constructed.Many large construction vehicles cannot navigate small, narrow roads. If you plan to build, it is prudent to check out construction access.School buses travel only on maintained county roads that have been designated as school bus routes by the school district. You may need to drive your children to a designated bus stop so they can get to school.In extreme weather, even county-maintained roads can become impassable. You may need a four-wheel drive vehicle with chains for all four wheels to travel during those episodes which could last for several days.Natural disasters, especially floods, can destroy roads. Pennington County will repair and maintain those roads on the County system; however, subdivision roads are the responsibility of the landowners who use those roads. A dry creek bed can become a raging torrent and wash out roads, bridges and culverts. Residents served by private roads and/or bridges have been hit with large bills for repairs and/or reconstruction after floods.Unpaved roads generate dust. Pennington County only treats County System roads to suppress the dust in extreme conditions, but dust is still a fact of life for most rural residents.If your road is unpaved, it is highly unlikely that Pennington County will pave it in the foreseeable future. Check carefully with the County Highway Department when any statement is made by the seller of any property that indicates any unpaved roads will be paved!Unpaved roads are not always smooth and are often slippery when they are wet. You will experience an increase in vehicle maintenance costs when you regularly travel on rural county roads.Mail delivery is not available to all areas of the county. Ask the postmaster to describe the system for your area.Newspaper delivery is similarly not always available to rural areas. Check with the newspaper of your choice before assuming you can get delivery.Standard parcel and overnight package delivery can be a problem for those who live in the country. Confirm with the service providers as to your status.It may be more expensive and time consuming to build a rural residence due to delivery fees and the time required for inspectors to reach your site.Water, sewer, electric, telephone and other services may be unavailable or may not operate at urban standards. Repairs can often take much longer than in towns and cities. Please review your options from the non-exhaustive list below.Telephone communications can be a problem especially in the mountain areas of Pennington County. Cellular phones may not work in all areas.If sewer service is available to your property, it may be expensive to hook into the system. It also may be expensive to maintain the system you use.If sewer service is not available, you will need to use an approved septic system or other treatment process. The type of soil you have available for a leach field will be very important in determining the cost and function of your system. Certain environmentally-sensitive areas may not support any septic system. For assistance and the required permits, contact the County Environmental Health Staff.If you have access to a supply of treated domestic water, the tap fees can be expensive. You may also find that your monthly cost of service can be costly when compared to municipal systems.If you do not have access to a supply of treated domestic water, you will have to locate an alternative supply. The most common method is use of a water well. Depending on the size of the wells, a permit from the State Department of Environment and Natural Resources may be required. The cost for drilling and pumping can be considerable. The quality and quantity of well water can vary considerably from location to location and from season to season. It is strongly advised that you research this issue very carefully.Not all wells can be used for watering of landscaping and/or livestock. Permits from the state may restrict water use to that which is used inside of a home. If you have other needs, make certain that you have the proper approvals before you invest. It may also be difficult to find enough water to provide for your needs even if you can secure the property permit.Electric service is not available to every area of Pennington County. It is important to determine the proximity of electrical power. It can be very expensive to extend power lines to remote areas.It may be necessary to cross property owned by others in order to extend electric service to your property in the most cost-efficient manner. It is important to make sure that the proper easements are in place to allow lines to be built to your property. Utility service lines crossing the Black Hills National Forest need to be buried and approved in advance with an annual permit and fee.Electric power may not be available in two phase and three phase service configurations. If you have special power requirements, it is important to know what level of service can be provided to your property.If you are purchasing land with the plan to build at a future date, there is a possibility that electric lines (and other utilities) may not be large enough to accommodate you if others connect during the time you wait to build.The cost of electric service is usually divided into a fee to hook into the system and then a monthly charge for energy consumed. It is important to know both costs before making a decision to purchase a specific piece of property.Power outages can occur in outlying areas with more frequency than in more developed areas. A loss of electric power can also interrupt your supply of water from a well. You may also lose food in freezers or refrigerators and power outages can cause problems with computers as well. It is important to be able to survive for up to a week in severe cold with no utilities if you live in the country.Trash removal can be much more expensive in a rural area than in a city. In some cases, your trash dumpster may be several miles from your home. In most areas, it is illegal to create your own trash dump even on your own land. It is good to know the cost for trash removal as you make the decision to move into the country. In some cases, your only option may be to haul your trash to the landfill yourself. Recycling is more difficult because pick-up is not available in most rural areas.Fire hydrants may not be located in your subdivision or even near your property. This could affect fire insurance premiums. Fire protection and emergency medical services may be provided by a volunteer organization.If you plan on living west of SD Highway 79 in Pennington County, you will be residing in the Black Hills Forest Protection District. Any person conducting open burning in the district must first obtain a permit from the State Forester. Examples of open burning are campfires, sweatlodge pits and slash pile burning. You will have to contact the South Dakota State Forestry Office in Rapid City for information on obtaining a permit..There are many issues that can affect your property. It is important to research these items before purchasing land.Not all lots are buildable. The Pennington County Director of Equalization has many parcels that are separate for the purpose of taxation that are not legal lots in the sense that a building permit will not be issued. You must check with the Pennington County Rural Planning Division to know that a piece of land can be built on and to obtain the required building and/or construction permits.Easements may require you to allow construction of roads, power lines, water lines, sewer lines, etc. across your land. There may be easements that are not of record. Check these issues carefully.Many property owners do not own the mineral rights under their property. Owners of mineral rights have the ability to change the surface characteristics in order to extract their minerals. It is very important to know what minerals may be located under the land and who owns them. Some areas in Pennington County can be used for mining; however, a Construction Permit is required to be reviewed and approved by the Pennington County Planning Commission. Be aware that adjacent mining uses can expand and cause negative impacts.You may be provided with a plat of your property but, unless the land has been surveyed and pins placed by a licensed surveyor, you cannot assume that the plat is accurate. Check private property boundaries when they are adjacent to the Black Hills National Forest. The Forest Service installs red painted metal posts along the property line. If your plat of the property does not match the red metal posts, contact the nearest Forest Service Office. No personal private property, such as fences, storage buildings, wood piles or parked vehicles are allowed on the National Forest Service property.Fences that separate properties are often misaligned with the property lines. A survey of the land is the only way to confirm the location of your property lines. The U. S. Forest Service does not construct fences along property boundaries between National Forest System land and private property. South Dakota State law requires private landowners in the Black Hills to install fences on property lines to keep private livestock on their land and National Forest permitted livestock off private land.Many subdivisions and planned unit developments have covenants or restrictions that limit the use of the property. It is important to obtain a copy of the covenants or restrictions (or confirm that there are none) and make sure that you can live with those rules. Also, a lack of covenants can cause problems between neighbors.Following is a brief roundup of planning zoning requirements in the six Black Hills counties:Butte: A subdivision ordinance (which is being referred to a public vote on Tuesday, December 14th) requires proper installation of septic systems and approval by the county commission of planning and zoning administrator. It also requires a five-acre lot for a dwelling that has its own water and its own sewage. It requires a two-acre lot for a house that is either on a central sewer and water system. If a house is on both central sewer and water, the ordinance requires a 10,000-square-foot lot.The ordinance has been in effect under an emergency order for two years before being made permanent by the county commission.A temporary planning and zoning ordinance, which went into effect in February, includes rules for such things as building height, property lines and types of development. The temporary ordinance can be in effect for two years under the emergency order and then the county is likely to make it permanent.The subdivision and planning ordinances are the first comprehensive planning ever attempted by Butte County.Lawrence: General ag zoning (northern one-third of the county) allows for one residence per 40 acres; park forest zoning (about two-thirds of the county) allows for eight residences per 40 acres. Within those areas, there are metropolitan areas that have their own planning and zoning. There are pockets of suburban residential districts normally close to city developments that average two-acre lots and rural residential districts (normally within general ag) that have a maximum of eight residences per 40 acres.Other requirements: The minimum lot size is two acres for a home with individual well and individual septic systems.The minimum lot size can be one acre if you have either a community water system or community sewer system.Meade: Meade County has no zoning but it does have Ordinance 20 (adopted in November 1998) regulating the subdivision of land. The minimum size for a lot on a county road or section line is nine acres. If you’re not on a county road or section line, the minimum is 19 acres. The minimum goes down to three acres for lots with a community water system and an active homeowner association. If you have central water and sewer, curb and gutter and paved streets (high density) you may have lots as small as 10,000 square feet.The country recently began requiring percolation tests for septic systems and county officials have been heavily inspecting all septic systems that they know about ahead of time.However, if you have 160 acres or more, you are not limited by restrictions set forth in Ordinance 20.If you have 40 acres (it must be a quarter of a quarter section of land), you don’t have to subdivide to get a building permit. Otherwise, building permits are normally required.Pennington: Building permits are required before construction anywhere in the unincorporated areas of the county.If you’re subdividing land outside one of the municipal “Extraterritorial platting areas,” you must submit a plat and get approval from the county commission. Rapid City controls zoning inside the city and subdivision within the city and within three miles of its borders. Other municipalities also have their own zoning and other regulations.An environmental health officer helps make sure that your septic system meets state standards, including passing percolation tests. The county requires copper wire in your drain field lines to make them easier to find. Otherwise, Pennington County requires no more than the state does. State law requires that you have an acre lot if you have individual septic and water systems. If you have either septic or water on a public system, you may have a lot as small as 22,000 square feet.Overall zoning ranges from general ag, which has a minimum of 40 acres for a home site, to suburban residential with a minimum of 6,500 square feet for a home site.The county prohibits building in the flood way (area where water runs deep and fast during a 100-year flood) and puts certain restrictions on building in the flood plain (a larger area that is inundated with water during a flood).Custer: Custer County has no zoning but it does have a fairly extensive land-use ordinance. Among its provisions:Developers are required to prepare storm-drainage plans and separate maps for any parts of a plated area that fall within any area of special flood hazard as identified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.The county requires inspection of all new septic systems.Parcels of less than two acres must have certification from a licensed professional engineer that a septic system will not cause future sanitation problems.Parcels of more than two acres and less than five acres must have a percolation test and soil tests before septic systems are installed.The county’s subdivision ordinance allows only one house on lots of five acres or less and requires that all roads are built to county road specifications.Minimum lot size is one acre.Fall River: Fall River County has no zoning and no planning regulations outside of municipalities.“Follow the Rules” Courtesy of the Rapid City JournalHomeowners associations are required to take care of common elements, roads, open space, etc. A dysfunctional homeowners association or poor covenants can cause problems for you and even involve you in expensive litigation.Dues are almost always a requirement for those areas with a homeowners association. The by-laws of the homeowners association will tell you how the organization operates and how the dues are set.The surrounding properties will probably not remain as they are indefinitely. You can check with the Pennington County/Rapid City Rural Planning Division to find out how the properties are zoned and to see what future developments may be in the planning stages. The view from your property may change. Do not assume adjacent National Forest System land will always remain in U. S. Government ownership. Land exchanges between the U. S. Government and private landowners is a common practice that occurs frequently within the Black Hills National Forest.Manufactured housing is allowed in Pennington County; however, a Conditional Use Permit must be approved by the County Commission for any home that is less than 20-feet wide, has a flat roof or has metal siding. A moving permit must also be obtained from the Pennington County Treasurer for any mobile home or manufactured home moved in the unincorporated areas of the County. A building permit must also be obtained from the Pennington County/Rapid City Rural Planning Division.If you have an irrigation ditch running across your property, there is a good possibility that the owners of the irrigation ditch have the right to come onto your property with heavy equipment to maintain the ditch.Water rights that are sold with the property may not give you the right to use the water from any irrigation ditches, creeks and streams crossing your land without coordinating with a neighbor who also uses the water. Other users may have senior rights to the water than can limit your use or require you to pay for the oversizing or other improving of the ditch.It is important to make sure that any water rights you purchase with the land will provide enough water to maintain fruit trees, pastures, gardens or livestock.The water flowing in irrigation ditches belongs to someone. You cannot assume that because the water flows across your property you can use it.Flowing water can be a hazard, especially to young children. Before you decide to locate your home near an active irrigation ditch, creek or stream, consider the possible danger to your family.Some properties in the county are located next to Black Hills National Forest land. The U. S. Forest Service has the right to sell timber for logging. The logging in the National Forest means heavy equipment will be working in the area being logged. In addition, your scenic view might be affected or destroyed from timber sales. Contact the U. S. Forest Service to determine whether a timber sale is anticipated for the area next to your property.Residents of the county usually experience more problems when the elements and earth turn unfriendly. Here are some thoughts for you to consider:The physical characteristics of your property can be positive and negative. Trees are a wonderful environmental amenity but can also involve your home in a forest fire. Building at the top of a forested draw should be considered as dangerous as building in a flash flood area. Defensible perimeters are very helpful in protecting buildings from forest fire and inversely can protect the forest from igniting if your house catches on fire. If you start a forest fire, you are responsible for paying for the cost of extinguishing that fire. For further information, you can contact the Pennington County Fire Coordinator.Steep slopes can slide in unusually wet weather. Large rocks can also roll down steep slopes and present a great danger to people and property.Expansive soils, such as Bentonite Clay (which is common in the foothills) can buckle concrete foundations and twist steel l-beams. You can know the soil conditions on your property if you have a soil test performed.North-facing slopes or canyons rarely see direct sunlight in the winter. There is a possibility that snow will accumulate and not melt throughout the winter.The topography of the land can tell you where the water will go in the case of heavy precipitation. When property owners fill in ravines, they have found that the water that drained through that ravine now drains through their house.A flash flood can occur, especially during the summer months and turn a dry gully into a river. It is wise to take this possibility into consideration when building. A Flood Plain Development Permit is required prior to building or filling in any designated flood plain. Contact the Pennington County Rural Planning Division for more information.Spring run-off can cause a very small creek to become a major river. Many residents use sandbags to protect their homes. The county does not provide sandbags, equipment or people to protect private property from flooding.Nature can provide you with some wonderful neighbors. Most, such as deer and eagles, are positive additions to the environment. However, even “harmless” animals like deer can cross the road unexpectedly and cause traffic accidents and destroy flowers and landscaping. Rural development encroaches on the traditional habitat of coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions, rattlesnakes, prairie dogs, bears, mosquitoes and other animals that can be dangerous and you need to know how to deal with them. In general, it is best to enjoy wildlife from a distance and know that if you do not handle your pets and trash properly, it could cause problems for you and the wildlife. The South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks is a good resource for information. They have many free publications to help educate you about living in the wild.
The people who tamed this wild land made agriculture an important part of our environment. Owning rural land means knowing how to care for it. There are a few things you need to know:Farmers often work around the clock, especially during planting and harvest time. Dairy operators sometimes milk without stopping and hay is often swathed or baled at night. It is possible that adjoining agriculture uses can disturb your peace and quiet.Land preparation and other operations can cause dust, especially during windy and dry weather.Farmers occasionally burn their ditches to keep them clean of debris, weeds and other obstructions. In addition, federal and state foresters may conduct prescribed burning projects on forest and range land in Pennington County at various times to reduce fire danger and increase wildlife habitat. This burning creates smoke which you may find objectionable.Chemicals (mainly fertilizers and herbicides) are often used in growing crops. You may be sensitive to these substances and many people actually have severe allergic reactions. Many of these chemicals are applied by airplanes that fly early in the morning.Animals and their manure can cause objectionable odors. What else can we say?Those individuals choosing rural lifestyles today do so for many of the same reasons the pioneers who settled this area did a hundred years ago: appreciation for the beauty of the landscape, living closer to nature, opportunities for independence and building self reliance, distance from neighbors and the enjoyment of wildlife, to name just a few. The benefits are many. However, just as the early pioneers faced many hardships in settling this area back then, individuals living in the rural west today face special challenges. Many of those challenges have been described in this “Code of the West.” Pennington County does not wish to discourage individuals from living in the rural areas of the county; rather, it is our hope that the individuals choosing such a rural lifestyle do so with a full understanding of the challenges they may face. Whatever your choice, urban or rural, we hope you enjoy and appreciate this beautiful place we call home.“Code of the West” is a publication of: