Construction, annexation and ventilation: City Council addresses several issues

City staff has been working with UW to make transportation for students and traffic near the university more efficient.

UW first brought its plan to the council in June 2022 during a work session with the city making a few changes and comments. In January 2023, the city’s planning division conditionally approved the site plan so construction could begin on campus. Last November, the UW Board of Trustees’ Facilities Contracting Committee reviewed and approved the plans before recently being brought to the City Council.

The university is presenting the addition of two roundabouts along the 15th Street corridor between Grand Avenue and East Lewis Street. The roundabouts will be placed at the intersection of 15th Street and East Ivinson Avenue and the intersection of 15th Street and Willett Drive.

Alongside the new roundabouts will be multi-use sidewalks on either side of the street allowing for walkers, bikers, and skateboarders to legally share the path. There also will be a median constructed between each side of the two-lane road.

Councilmember Erin O’Doherty spoke of her concern for these changes. She believes that when driving through a roundabout there is little to no focus on pedestrians.

“Roundabouts are good for moving vehicles, but they are terrible at moving humans,” O’Doherty said. “The circles are hostile to people in wheelchairs and students, and as they go across there is never a stop in traffic.

“When a student is running late to class, are they really going to walk up an extra block to cross at a pedestrian crosswalk?” she continued. “I think it is great now that the signal stops everybody and (then) to say ‘vehicles should have the priority, and students and pedestrians and people in wheelchairs — just take your chances.’ So I really do not support this.”

Webb responded: “The crossing at Ivinson and 15th will be just north of the intersection. … The median that will be there will prevent folks from running across the street. The signal crossing has not been worked out because this is still a conceptual plan, but it would be a hawk signal (when a pedestrian pushes a crossing button) or RFB (rapid flash beacon). Another thing that we really need to remember is that the amount of people crossing is going to go way down when those dorms open because a lot of those students are going to be relocated.”

The acceptance of the resolution, was however, voted for unanimously with the plan to make more detailed changes as the plan continues to come back during the project.

Annexations

City staff has begun an initiative to move city-owned property into city boundaries as a way to ensure maintenance and codes.

“This is a good planning practice,” Principal Planner Philipp Gabathuler said. “It ensures that if the property were to ever change hands it would still be held to city standards, which as you all know are much more stringent than they are in the county and being so close to the city itself we found this an important step to take.”

There are four locations that total nearly 145 acres of unincorporated land that is being moved into city boundaries and zoned primarily for residential or open zoning use. They include: 80 acres southeast of the intersection of Cumulus Drive and North 30th Street; 64 acres southeast of East Banner Road; one acre east of the intersection of Mojave Drive and North 45th Street; and a half acre east of the intersection of Easterling Street and Cottonwood Drive.

There has yet to be any comments or questions from council or the public, and the council voted to proceed during the past two readings on Nov. 7 and Nov. 21. It is intended for a third reading at the next regular meeting on Dec. 19.

Community pool

The Laramie Community Recreation Center will be experiencing some maintenance to the largest terminal under-adjustment unit at the facility that provides heating, cooling and dehumidification for the eight-lane lap pool.

The recreation center is nearly 20 years old and the current HVAC equipment has a life expectancy of 13-15 years. Hence, the equipment had outlasted what was expected by city staff and is due for a replacement.

Assistant City Manager Todd Feezer provided the council a brief description of the work that would be needed throughout the replacement.

The agreement is between the city of Laramie and Climate Control Heating & Air Conditioning based in Cheyenne.

“Staff did advertise through the Laramie Boomerang as required and we did receive two proposals,” Feezer said. “We then interviewed both proponents and the committee chose Climate Control out of Cheyenne unanimously.”

The project had a budget of $373,000 but the price of the unit has seen a 20% increase every year for the last four years leading the total cost not to exceed $602,255. There is a contingency of $60,000 and a budget transfer of $289,050 from unallocated funds.

Energy efficiency is top priority for this build, which is why city staff chose to perform a request for proposal rather than a regular bidding process. This allowed staff to select a contractor that would work with them throughout the process to choose more energy efficient parts.

“The selected contractor will provide for a period of design where we will weigh and assess energy efficiencies,” Feezer said. “Whether that be variable drive motors, a fan wall instead of a single large fan or any reduction out there we may not be aware of.”

He added, “I am excited about this process because I think that it gives us a good chance to gain energy efficiency.”

The council unanimously voted for approval, and the company has set a time for the unit to be built with construction beginning in 30 weeks.