RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - A South Dakota county is investigating how a subdivision was built after a sinkhole collapsed exposing an abandoned mine.
Meade County is looking into the development of homes in a Black Hawk neighborhood after the gypsum mine emerged last week, breaking water and sewer lines and causing a dozen families to evacuate, the Rapid City Journal reported.
“We’re trying to look through the archive files to get all the information we can,” said Bill Rich, deputy planning director. “I’m interested in what was submitted, what was mentioned, what wasn’t - there could have been things that were overlooked.”
Rich added that he nor the director of the Equalization and Planning Office worked in planning when the Meade County Planning Board approved the subdivision in 2002.
Rich said the developer was Keith Kuchenbecker and the engineering company was Renner & Sperlich.
But there is no mention of Kuchenbecker and Renner & Sperlich being involved with Hideaway Hills in any public notices.
Gary Renner said he was not involved in the project and and isn’t sure if the company was either. Doug Sperlich did not return the newspaper’s request for comment.
A number for Kuchenbecker was not found. But a call to a number listed for his wife was answered by a woman who said Kuchenbecker was not available.
Kuchenbecker was the manager of the West River Conservancy Subdistrict in Phillip in the 1970s, according to newspaper archives. In articles and ads, Kuchenbecker is later described as a land buyer and developer in Pennington and Meade counties.
Doug Huntrods, emergency manager for Meade County, plans to apply for a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant that would pay homeowners 75% of the value of their homes before the sinkholes appeared.
Huntrods noted that the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program is the homeowners best option.
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