Rapid City Council continued the tweeking of the park use regulations ordinance.

Among the several speakers who spoke against it was Clancy Kingsbury, the owner of Who’s Hobby House, who said that a number of the toys he sells would be prohibited from use in parks in Rapid City, and specifically pointed to the sections regarding fireworks, operation of motor boats, and remote-controlled vehicles…

He said one of the fastest growing remote-controlled segments is small rock crawling vehicles, which do much the same thing that their larger counterparts do.

Parks Director Jeff Biegler (BEEG-ler) said there are a lot of different users of the park and some activities should have designated areas….

Alderman Jason Salamun (Solomon)asked Biegler about changes regarding language, specifically, language prohibiting “habitually loafing”….

       Biegler clarified the language saying there is no intent to target the homeless population…and that napping in the park is not only a common activity, but encouraged. Biegler also talked about regulations specifically targeting dogs. He said dogs are universally accepted in parks, and the regulations lay out leash requirements, and designates 5 different areas in the City where dogs can be off-leash.

Some additions are the result of issues the park department has faced, like open fires or vehicles in parks, which don’t happen very often but have happened…and others, like the remote-controlled devices, park staff is trying to get ahead of.

More tweeks will be made and that ordinance is scheduled to come back to council April 17