Laramie Proposal To Pave Way For Apartments Defeated In Council

A proposal to favor terminating a lease on the 1st Street parking lot to pave the way for a new apartment complex to be built at that location was voted down by a 6-3 margin on Tuesday night by the Laramie City Council

That vote means the project will not move forward at that location, at least not right now..

Councilmembers Jayne Pearce, Andrea Summerville, and Joe Shumway dissented from the majority in the vote. That vote followed a 5-4 vote not to postpone the issue for further discussion, which would have kept the proposal alive.

The vote followed a public discussion on the issue, with the sentiment expressed by citizens overwhelmingly opposed to the project. Those comments followed a an April 23rd workshop on the issue in which the same sentiments were expressed by members of the public who commented.

A Laramie Live online poll on the issue found the same result, with almost 80 percent of the nearly 2,000 people who voted being opposed to the project.

Mayor Harrington Says Council Listened To Public Opinion On The Issue

Ahead of the vote, Mayor Brian Harrington commented ''I don't think there are the votes to build this building, or this imagined building, on this lot. I don't see it." He later said ''Our heads are not in the sand. We're hearing what you are saying."

The city could not have unilaterally terminated the lease, but the council could have voted to favor doing so. The decision not to take that position means the property will remain a parking lot, and concerns over parking were one of the biggest issues cited by opponents of the project. Opponents also worried that the project would not blend in with the look and atmosphere of downtown Laramie as it currently exists.

Several commenters in the two public hearings on the proposal said they like the idea of new apartments being built at some other location.

The 88-unit complex was being proposed by the Stencil Group, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota contractor.