City Council to finalize wards, talk single-family zones, consider 5th penny
Councilors plan to address a host of issues tonight. The council’s agenda includes redistricting, a bias crime report, liquor license renewal, and more than $200k in community partner grants.
The Laramie City Council has a packed schedule tonight. The councilors will take up issues related to affordable housing, the city’s future political lines, and funding requests from the city’s community partners. The city will also consider the path ahead for the 5th penny general purpose tax, which makes those community partner grants possible.
Members of the public wishing to comment on these agenda items, other agenda items or even non-agenda items can do so by joining the council on Zoom tonight at 6:30 p.m.
Here are some of the issues and topics likely to be discussed at the council’s meeting tonight.
The council will consider the future of the 5th penny sales tax. The 5th penny is a general purpose tax that funds about 20-25 percent of city services, from firefighting and policing to street, alley and bridge repair. It has appeared on the local general election ballot every four years since 1986 and has been renewed by the voters of Albany County each time. The council has two resolutions before it today: one would place the 5th penny tax on the ballot again, leaving its fate directly to the voters, the other would renew the 5th penny tax by resolution of the council. In either case, if the 5th penny fails to be renewed, the council will have to cut its biennial budget by about $5 million, according to a city staff summary.
The council will likely finalize its redistricting plan for the city’s three council wards. The council agreed on a map last week and directed city staff to craft the map’s written description in time for tonight’s meeting. The new map will split Laramie into roughly north, south and east wards, dividing West Laramie, the west side and downtown between the north and south wards.
The council is also looking to dive back into the topic of single-family zoning. Single family zones are the councilors’ next target in their push for more affordable housing. The ordinance before council would reduce size and setback requirements, allowing more residential units to be built on any given patch of land in single-family zones. The ordinance also defines and authorizes accessory dwelling units, which the owners of houses in single-family zones could rent to relatives, college students or anyone else seeking cheaper housing.
The city is set to approve the continuation of various liquor licenses. The few dozen licenses include retail, restaurant, bar and grill and other licenses. Roxie’s on Grand could lose its ability to host minors (anyone under 21 years old) as it failed to meet a requirement of its special allowance. Roxie’s has a retail license, but has also been granted an exception that allows it to host minors in its restaurant — so long as it makes at least 50 percent of its sales from food, rather than liquor. This is similar to, but less demanding than, the traditional requirements of a restaurant liquor license. A restaurant liquor license requires that 60 percent of an establishment’s sales come from food, not drinks. According to Roxie’s on Grand’s renewal application, just 40 percent of the restaurant’s sales in the past year came from food, while nearly 60 percent came from liquor.
The city will accept a bias crime report from the Laramie Police Department showing LPD did not investigate any bias crimes during 2021, nor did it receive reports of bias incidents. The “bias crime” label does not carry additional penalties in Wyoming, but can be a useful marker when local data is submitted to national databases.
Councilors will examine an ordinance updating city code to reflect the rise of electric scooters and “electrical assisted bicycles.” The ordinance expands the municipal code where it regulates bike travel to include a range of other devices now in use. Those other devices include motor-powered bicycles, assistive mobility devices, and electric scooters. Electric scooters have become commonplace throughout Laramie since the council greenlit their introduction to the city in July.
The city will decide how to award its community partner grants to organizations across Laramie. Those organizations requested more than $315,000, but the city will award just $210,000. An organization’s award amount was decided by taking the average of each individual councilor’s suggested amount. For example, Big Brothers Big Sisters requested $38,000 and councilors suggested various amounts ranging from $15,100 to $33,000. The average, and therefore the award that council is slated to approve tonight, came out to just more than $23,000. Some organizations — such as Albany County Public Library, Relative Theatrics and the Laramie Plains Civic Center — could get just half of what they requested. The award amounts could change when councilors examine Resolution 2022-23 tonight.