University set to move forward with Grand Ave parking garage
UW received the necessary approval for a planned three-story garage between Grand and Ivinson Avenues. The garage will share the "collegiate gothic sandstone style" of other buildings on campus.
The University of Wyoming plans to construct a three-story parking garage where its parking lot between Grand and Ivinson Avenues now stands. The garage will have access to 10th Street, 11th Street, Ivinson Avenue and Grand Avenue.
The garage will feature 374 UW permit parking spaces and 40 metered spaces within the structure. A UW Police Department office will occupy part of the north, Ivinson Avenue side, and a UW Transit pick-up/drop-off area will face the south, Grand Avenue side. Renderings of the planned garage were provided during the UW Board of Trustees May meeting, during which the board approved the garage alongside a new residence hall.
The combined price tag for the garage and residence hall is about $250 million.
“The exterior design of the residence halls, as well as the parking facility, will follow the Collegiate Gothic sandstone style of other buildings on UW’s central campus,” a UW news release states. “Attractive green spaces and other landscaping will be created as part of the projects.”
The parking structure is designed to direct traffic flows away from Grand and Ivinson Avenues — goals supported by a Wyoming Department of Transportation traffic impact studies and review.
City Planning Manager Derek Teini highlighted various elements of the proposed garage during the council’s May 18 meeting.
“Overall, the impacts are minimal,” Teini said. “However, we do have traffic lights in the area that will help accommodate and direct traffic throughout the area.”
The University of Wyoming Board of Trustees approved construction of the parking garage during its May meeting, alongside plans for a new dorm hall. Those plans then had to gain approval from the city of Laramie, and went first to the Laramie Planning Commission, an appointed advisory board to the Laramie City Council.
The commission, however, denied approval of the necessary conditional use permit request.
The LPC stated three findings for their denial of the proposal: nuisance concern, context of the neighborhood and general welfare. The University of Wyoming filed for an appeal, which was granted by the Laramie City Council during its May 18 meeting. The project may now move ahead.
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