(CN) - Demolition of a historic gas station can't go forward without approval from a historic preservation group, the South Dakota Supreme Court ruled.
The Gustafson Family Trust sought to demolish the Sinclair Station, a former gas station in Deadwood, S.D.
While the vacant station is not registered locally as a historic site, it does appear on the national and state registers of historic places.
A Deadwood city ordinance requires review of any such demolition plans by the Deadwood Historical Preservation Commission.
The city filed for an injunction to stop the demolition, and the trust countered that the city lacked jurisdiction.
The trial court ruled for the trust, because the station was not marked as a local historic landmark. However, Justice Steven Zinter overturned the decision.
"There is nothing in the text of the statute ... requiring a local designation before an HPC may exercise the permitting power granted by the statute," Zinter wrote.
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