Watertown, South Dakota

Sometimes it’s the hidden gems that shine the brightest. Watertown, South Dakota, is an art- and nature-loving prairie town with a population hovering just below 23,000. What’s special about them? Well, they’ve been learning how to work from the bottom up.

Making Use of Every Space

When malls started popping up throughout North America, many towns watched their downtowns suffer. Watertown was no exception.

But over the past 10+ years, they’ve been working from the bottom up to make it easy for local businesses to get started.

The result? You cannot find an empty storefront. Most of the buildings are multi-use. They host not only commercial fronts on the main floor, but they have housing on the top and underground parking below.

The best part is these downtown buildings are mixed use, with housing above ground-floor businesses.

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Parking Minimums

What’s one way Watertown has been making it easy for local business? They ended parking minimums. So now, local developers don’t have to struggle with unnecessary extra costs of building space for parking.

When the old railroad town was first built, parking lots didn’t exist, and the downtown was built with buildings close together so they could more easily share resources.

Watertown is not requiring parking to save what they’ve always had: a people-centered downtown.

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Financial Resilience

Watertown preserves their financial prosperity in multiple ways. Here are a few highlights:

• Most of the town’s businesses are locally owned (this is purposely cultivated through nurturing and flexible rules). That means money stays, and circulates throughout the community.
• When they want to build something new, they actually consider the maintenance costs in the budget. (Simple, but most municipalities don’t do this).
• Watertown encourages infill development. Eighty-two percent of all permits are issued on the spot, which means they’re making the most of the space and utilities they already have, versus the alternative: building more roads, pipes, and infrastructure they don’t yet need.

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