City to allow denser housing in multi-family zones

The Laramie City Council approved an ordinance Tuesday shrinking the dimensional standards for residential units in some areas of the city. Council’s stated goal is to increase affordable housing.

Developers are now free to build smaller, denser housing on about two-thirds of Laramie’s residentially zoned lots.

The Laramie City Council passed Original Ordinance 2036 during its meeting Tuesday night, alongside a separate ordinance that established health and safety standards for rental property.

Both ordinances are part of a larger campaign to revamp housing in Laramie by upping the amount of affordable units and reining in some of the area’s worst slumlords.

“This is not meant to be a fix-it-all solution,” Councilor Andi Summerville said, referencing the ordinance for denser housing. “I think we have a lot more work to do.”

The city staff who brought the ordinance and the councilors who approved it are hoping that by allowing denser housing, developers will be incentivized to provide more low-income and “missing middle” housing.

The argument is this: Multiple, smaller units can be rented or sold more cheaply than a single large unit that dominates a lot. But with the current high minimum area required for each unit, developers are incentivized to build one, large house rather than townhomes or apartments. This leads to a shortage of low-income housing, as well as middle-income housing, and to a shortage of housing overall.

The ordinance seeks to make smaller, denser housing more cost-effective and therefore more appealing to developers.

“Affordable housing means so many different things and it can mean so many different things based on what your personal situation is — what’s affordable at one level and what’s affordable at another level,” Mayor Paul Weaver said. “My understanding from what we’ve heard the last several years is we need ‘all of the above.’”

For the first time since the ordinance was originally introduced, the council’s discussion drew more comments of support than comments of disapproval. In previous meetings, various individuals have spoken against the ordinance.

Significantly, those detractors included both the Albany County Historic Preservation Board and residents of the West Side neighborhood — who fear that new, denser development could change the character of the iconic Laramie neighborhood.

“I have already expressed my concerns about this — mostly based around the possibility of dense housing being put in the middle of single home neighborhoods,” said Wendi Chatman, a West Side resident. “Although the West Side is R2 (limited multi-family zoning) for the most part, it is mostly single-family homes and small homes.”

But the issue received more positive comments Tuesday, including from another resident of West Side, Albany County School Board Trustee Nate Martin.

The ordinance also has the support of economic development folks, as well as nonprofits that work with the city’s poorest renters on a day-to-day basis.

Laramie Interfaith is one such nonprofit and on Tuesday, its executive director, Josh Watanabe, endorsed both rental regulations and the denser housing ordinance.

“As one of the communities’ largest housing and housing-related assistance resources, the shortfall of affordable housing has become more apparent than ever this year,” Watanabe writes in a letter to the council. “While there may be several causes, the influx of those in need of housing this year should not have been wholly unexpected and will continue to grow. As housing becomes less affordable, the number of community members in need of our services increases while at the same time the level of support we are able to provide decreases.”

Local landlord Brett Glass was not convinced of the ordinance’s purported benefits. Glass turned out Tuesday night to oppose both rental regulations and the denser housing ordinance.

“This ordinance would not do anything positive for the neighborhoods it affects,” he said. “Instead, it would cram highly urbanized ultra-dense housing into zones which typically have single-family or two-family housing. It wouldn’t make housing more affordable because it would be exploited by developers who want to charge more per square foot for smaller dwellings. It would also have a bad impact on neighborhoods because it would increase congestion and traffic.”

Another commenter, Taylor Norton, said he trusted the professionals who supported the ordinance.

“I just want to voice support for anything that gets us a step closer toward having affordable housing in Laramie,” Norton said. “I think, generally speaking, the city planners know what they’re talking about and have done due diligence and I trust their work.”

Mayor Weaver acknowledged the division the ordinance created.

“I understand that it’s not a perfect solution and I feel badly that, in passing this, we generate concern for some folks,” he said. “But I also want to say that those concerns have been heard and there are going to be some forthcoming actions from the city council to try to address some of that. We wish we were able to do everything everybody wanted us to do when they wanted us to do it, but that’s simply not possible.”

Councilor Fred Schmechel added that the ordinance would not completely solve Laramie’s housing crisis, but he said the matter is pressing and this action would start benefiting the city almost immediately.

“I learned this afternoon of a credible developer, developing in West Laramie, who is awaiting the outcome of this this evening, and it will affect the number of units that they’re able to build,” Schmechel said. “I feel it’s urgent that we take this opportunity to move this forward and hopefully develop more homes in Laramie faster because of it.”

The ordinance passed on an 8-1 vote, with only Vice-Mayor Jayne Pearce voting against.