What was SDCL 31-12A-5?
“If any part of a proposed road district is within three miles of the boundary of a municipality of the first or second class, the petition for the incorporation of the road district shall be accompanied by a resolution of the governing body of the municipality approving the incorporation of the road district.”
Before its repeal, SDCL 31-12A-5 provided a specific “consent” hurdle for road districts located near municipalities. It stated that if any part of a proposed road district was within three miles of the boundary of a first or second-class city, the petitioners had to obtain a resolution of approval from that city’s governing body before the county could move forward.
Why was it repealed?
The statute was repealed by SL 2014, ch 46, § 9 as part of a major legislative overhaul to modernize road district elections and voter eligibility. Legislators determined the law was outdated and redundant for several reasons:
- Simplification of Incorporation: The 2014 session focused on making the formation of special districts more uniform across the state. The “three-mile rule” was seen as an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy that gave cities “veto power” over rural neighbors who simply wanted to maintain their own local roads.
- Clarifying Jurisdiction (The 2014 Shift): Instead of a blanket “three-mile” approval, the legislature shifted the focus to actual subdivision jurisdiction. They replaced the old rule with a more precise standard now found in SDCL 31-12A-5.1, which requires city approval only if the territory is within the municipality’s formal subdivision jurisdiction.
- Removing Obsolete Provisions: By 2014, many of the 1977 provisions (the year the chapter was originally written) were considered “obsolete” because they didn’t account for modern county planning and zoning laws that already manage how land near cities is developed.