Board of County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

All right, please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Welcome to the June 2nd Laramie County Board of Commissioners meeting. Just a little housekeeping. I tried to catch everybody as they came in, but I saw some folks come in late. So you're aware the final item, number 23, we're actually going to hear that second because the applicant has asked to postpone until the 16th of June. So there won't be a public hearing. We'll hear the request to postpone. The commission will vote on that, and then we'll move on to the other items. But I know some folks had come for that, caught most of you outside. But in case I didn't, we're going to move up that postponement request to the second item. Later on in the meeting when we have public hearings, if you want to come and address the commission, I'd ask that you come forward, state your name and address for the record. And with that, Mr. Clerk.

Item one, consideration of the minutes of proceedings for May 19, 2026.

Mr. Chair, moved to approve. Second. Motion and a second. Discussion? Discussion? Roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Swanitzer? Aye. And Chairman Maum?

Aye. And I would note that Commissioner Heath is excused for a very important kindergarten graduation.

Thank you. All right. Next item, please. Item 23, public hearing regarding a Class C conditional use permit for Iron Guard workforce housing located in a portion of Section 24, Township 13 North, Range 67 West, Laramie County, Wyoming.

Mr. Arnold.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning and Development, as you alluded to, we do have the agent for the applicant here to make an official request for postponement. Mr. Palma, if you wouldn't mind.

Good afternoon, Chairman, members of the Commission, Casey Palma, Palma Land Planning Agent for the Honor, an applicant. So I appreciate you all moving this item up. I'd let staff know we were going to postpone this item, but they're just kind of working through the contracts on the land. So we would request that this be postponed until the next regular meeting. We're really excited to bring this project to Cheyenne. We've talked with the neighbors and plan to continue that discussion for sort of mitigation and how this fits into the community. But the sooner we bring it, the sooner we'll get some relief on the housing and rental market. So I'd be happy to address any questions you have today or if we want to just postpone to the next meeting, that's fine as well.

Okay, I think that the request is to postpone until the 16th of June. Okay. Mr. Chair, I move to postpone to the June 16th County Commissioner meeting. Second. Motion and second. Any discussion by the Commission? Mr. Chair?

Through you, if you wouldn't mind, Mr. Pullman, just in case people did show up tonight to speak with that, if you wouldn't mind just kind of hanging out in the hallway to answer any questions that anybody may have. Just so that way, since they came and made the effort to be here tonight, they could still speak with you, get any questions answered.

Yep. You bet. Will do. Certainly appreciate that. All right.

Roll call, please. Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioners Wanitzer?

Aye.

Chairman Maumau?

Aye. Next item, please. Oh, two through eight are considered consent agenda items in our routine county business and will be considered as one motion unless a member of the governing body would like to have one removed. Commissioners? Aye.

Motion to approve.

Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Discussion? Roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Swanitzer? Aye. Chairman Moore?

Aye. Next item, please.

Item nine, consideration of warrants in the amount of $6,091,758.43 for May 2026.

Mr. Chair, moved to approve. Second. Motion and second. Any discussion on warrants? Discussion? Roll call, please.

Commissioners Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioners Lennitzer? Aye. Chairman Malm? Aye. Next item, please. That's all. Item 10, consideration of comments on two amendments to the planned Cheyenne future land use map. One, Cheyenne 98, a mixed-use residential to mixed-use employment for approximately 98 acres north of College Drive and east of South... Southwest Drive, number two, Highland Annexation, adding land to the urban service boundary, designating the land from agricultural rural to mixed-use employment. The annexed land will solely be within the city limits east of South Greeley Highway and south of the Sweetgrass subdivision. Mr. Chairman, this is for the Board of County Commissioners' comments. No action is required.

All right, my friends from the city. Mr. Lloyd.

Mr. Chair, members of the Board of County Commissioners, my name is Seth Lloyd. I'm with the City of Cheyenne Planning and Development Department. You have here two amendments to Plan Cheyenne. Per the Plan Cheyenne amendment procedures, any application to amend the plan within city limits comes to the county for comment only. Should the county wish to amend completely outside of city limits, it would go to the city for comment only. The two in front of you today, one is to amend approximately 98 acres near Southwest Drive between College and I-80. That would go for mixed-use residential to mixed-use employment. There was a previous item recently on the agenda for the city and also came here for comment only to amend land north of there, which passed. And then the second one is to amend the future land use map and the urban service boundary to allow the city to annex and zone land south of the Sweetgrass area and east of the Bison Business Park, which is east of South Greeley Highway. I'm available for any questions on these items.

Any questions from Mr. Lloyd? No. Any comments from the commission? Comments? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Lloyd. Item 11, please.

Item 11, consideration of a resolution for compensation for election judges and canvassing board members.

Ms. Ports. Good afternoon, Commissioners. My name is Mikayla Ports. I'm the election manager for Laramie County. This resolution sets the compensation for election judges and canvassing board members. It outlines the positions to be compensated with over half paid at an hourly rate and the rest at a flat rate. I'd just like to quickly say that our election days would not be the successes that they are without our amazing election workers, and we are just so incredibly grateful for their services.

Okay.

Any questions? Mr. Chair, I move to approve. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Discussion? Roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Swanitzer? Aye. Chairman Malm?

Aye. Next item, please. Thank you, Michaela.

Item 12, consideration of resolution to place continuation of the optional lodging tax authorized by Women's Statute 39-15-204AA on the November 3rd, 2026 general election ballot.

Mr. Walters, do you want to bring up the whole crew or are they just here for moral support? Moral support. Okay.

Mr. Chairman, commissioners, thank you so much for your time today. I'm Jim Walter. I'm the president and CEO of Visit Cheyenne, the destination marketing organization for Laramie County. With me today in our audience are Anthony Ortiz, our board chair, along with Marie Margot, who is our new director of marketing and communication, and Lisa Manies back there. She's our director of convention sales. Wendy Volk was going to be here today, I thought, and I just wanted to point out her dedicated service to Visit Cheyenne over the last six years. As she wraps up her second term with us, she'll be appointing somebody to take her place at the end of this month. First of all, and most of all, we appreciate the partnership and the great working relationship that Visit Cheyenne has with this commission here at the county. I'll bring you a couple of quick updates on tourism and what we're doing, some recent successes and where we're heading. Tourism just isn't about attracting visitors to our community. It's about bringing outside dollars into Laramie County and supporting businesses, jobs, events, and our quality of life for residents that live here. Our tourism last year was a great year, record year for Laramie County. We had $485 million in direct visitor spending in 2025. That's almost half a billion dollars. I've tasked the staff this year that we're going to hit that half a billion dollar mark. That provided 3,720 local jobs, paying out $118 million in wages to the hospitality industry here. Visitors paid $29 million in state and local taxes here in Laramie County last year. And as I'd mentioned another time that we met, nine cents out of every sales tax dollar collected comes from people that don't even live here. So that's like getting all of our sales tax projects at 91 cents on the dollar, thanks to our visitors. They spend money on our hotels and our restaurants, our retail stores, our gas stations, our entertainment venues. And tourism remains one of the few industries where we can import outside dollars without having to export a product. some current market conditions year-round on average sixty percent of our hotel rooms are full every night here in laramie county uh... we continue to have a significant capacity to accommodate additional visitors however growth of opportunities exist in meetings conventions sports tourism leisure travel and signature events We have seen double-digit growth in our hotel revenue over the past 12 months with a 12% increase or $9 million additional spent in our hotels in the last 12 months. That increase comes from the increase in economic development projects in and around Laramie County, and that's driving a lot of the growth, but visitation by tourists is also higher year over year. We continue to market Laramie County as an authentic destination featuring what we call a three-legged stool of marketing, our Western heritage, our outdoor adventure, and what we call Cheyenne chic. That's our breweries, our distilleries, our retail stores, our boutique shopping, kind of think about the things that you can do in downtown. Key markets we're focusing on include Denver, Salt Lake City, Fort Worth, Phoenix Prescott, Omaha, and Billings, Montana. Looking ahead for tourism here in Laramie County over the next four years, major projects such as the Sentinel Project, data centers, energy development will all bring additional overnight stays. We view that as an opportunity at Visit Cheyenne, not as a threat. The hospitality industry is positioned to benefit from both tourism and economic development activity. As I mentioned, we're really grateful for our partnerships with Laramie County. And some of those partnerships include the Hell on Wheels Rodeo and Chuckwagon Dinner Series. The first Hell on Wheels Rodeo of the season is Friday night out at Archer. This will be our seventh season. Last year we paid out $70,000 to Cowboys and Cowgirls thanks to our sponsors and to our partnership with the Laramie County Fair team. It generated approximately $850,000 in economic impact. It continues to grow in both attendance and sponsorship support. It activates our county facilities and it creates a unique tourism product that is distinctly Cheyenne and Laramie County. It's a great example of taking something that didn't even exist pre-pandemic and turning it into a tourism asset that generates real economic activity. Our Winter Nights of Cheyenne, our February winter indoor renaissance festival, had a great year last year. Warm weather led to record crowds. We were really happy with how that turned out. It's turned into a signature event for us in the month of February. A cool thing that we were able to do this year is we cut a check back to Laramie County for $12,500 as part of the revenue sharing agreement that we put together on that memorandum of understanding when we got the indoor rodeo arena. And thanks to that indoor rodeo arena, Frozen Fury on the Plains had its third year of sellout attendance. It's more activity during a typically slow season for us, generating hotel stays, restaurant spending, and visitor traffic here in the community. When we started discussing a February bucking horse futurity, a lot of people thought it was a novelty, but three straight sellouts suggest otherwise, and we see some great opportunities to continue growing that weekend while that dirt arena is in there. Of course, looking forward to later this year, the lodging tax renewal is the most important issue facing Visit Cheyenne over the next year. It does fund roughly half the local option, 2% funds roughly half of our organization's operations. It allows us to market the destination, recruit meetings and events, support tourism development for both visitors and residents to our community alike. In 2022, voters renewed the tax with over 71% support. We're focused on education, transparency, and communication with the voters of Laramie County. Our goal is to ensure that residents understand how tourism benefits the entire community. We're doing community presentations. I'll be in Pine Bluffs next Monday. I'll be in Elbin on Thursday. We're talking to Rotary Clubs. We're talking to Kiwanis Club, Zantas, those organizations, and just educating them on the benefits of what we do at Visit Cheyenne. We're doing some resident sentiment research. We should have those numbers any day now. And we've always operated. My predecessor, two predecessors ago, Darren Rudloff, always said, you know, when you're thinking should you do this, what's it going to look like on the front page of the Tribune Eagle? And that's the type of transparency that we've always operated. We're truly grateful with the stewardship that has been entrusted with us of these taxpayer dollars. Three takeaways I want to leave you with. Tourism remains an important economic driver for Laramie County. If the entire tourism industry was one private employer, they would only trail the state government and F.E. Warren in Laramie County for the number of people that we employ. Our partnership with the county continues to provide measurable results. The $150,000 in economic impact from Hell on Wheels, the Winter Nights, the Frozen Fury, and last year, Lisa and Convention Sales booked meetings and conventions here in DeLaramie County with an $8 million economic impact just from our meeting and convention sales out. activities. We're focused on protecting and growing that impact through continued destination development as well, staying true to our tourism master plan that we developed a couple years ago and will be updating in the next couple years. I want to thank the voters of Laramie County who continue to entrust us with stewarding their lodging tax dollars. And I want to especially thank the commission for your partnership. The success of these projects isn't Visit Cheyenne's success alone. It's the result of that strong collaboration between the county, the city, the residents that live here, our community partners in the hospitality industry. We're excited about where we're headed and we appreciate your continued support. And I would answer any questions that you might have.

Any questions? Questions? Yeah. Thank you, sir. We move to approve the resolution.

Second.

Motion and a second.

Discussion?

Commissioner Thompson.

Mr. Chair, Jim, thanks for being here today, you and your staff. This really is kind of a no-brainer tax because it's paid for by all the people that don't live in Laramie County, which is nice. So this is going to be an interesting ballot. I would ask everyone to make sure that they pay attention to the ballot November 3rd and also the one on August 18th because there's a lot going on on those, but a lot of very important issues. Thank you, Jim.

Anyone else? I'd just quickly note the positive impact that we see across Laramie County and the state of Wyoming as it relates to tourism. And I think that we have one of the best groups out there that's running ours. And not only the staff and paid staff, but the volunteers who serve and give their time to put in on that board. We mention it all the time when we do appointments, but if we had to pay all the people that volunteer their time in Laramie County to serve on the various boards we appoint, it would cost taxpayers an awful lot of money, and we get an awful lot of work out of those folks, and so I just appreciate their service and all the staff. With that, roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead?

Aye.

Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Swannitzer? Aye. Chairman Moem?

Aye. Next item, please.

Item 13, consideration of amendment number two to the construction contract 0001, Chalk Blast Road, CR203, improvement project between Laramie County, Wyoming and Connell Resources Incorporated to update the bid scheduled to add the force account and update the total contract cost.

Molly. Commissioners, Molly Cook, Laramie County Public Works. As Dale mentioned, this is a request to add the force account line item back into the bid schedule for the Chalk Bluff Road improvements project. This will ensure flexibility to the construction team to accommodate any unforeseen items during construction. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions for Molly? Okay. Commissioners? Mr. Chair, I move to approve.

Second.

Motion and second. Discussion by the Commission. Discussion? I would just note that this is one of those projects that we were fortunate to partner with a private entity that was doing a large project in our community, and they're paying the lion's share, almost, or over $10 million for a road in Laramie County that was in desperate need of overhaul, and so I just appreciate them and you know, being good partners as we move forward. Roll call, please. Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioners Lunden, sir? Aye. Chairman Mahon? Aye. Next item, please.

Item 14, consideration of a construction contract 0007 between Laramie County, Wyoming and A1 Chipsaw Company in an amount not to exceed $1,764,023 for a chipsaw ceiling project for various locations as shown in Exhibit A. Ms. Cook.

Commissioners, Molly Cook, oh, Laramie County Public Works. On April 10th, 2026, the county posted this request for bids. Chip sealed 2026-0007 to bid net direct to formally solicit competitive bids. Bids were due on May 8th, 2026, and the county received five total bids. After the completion of the evaluation process, the evaluation team concluded that A1 chip seal was the lowest, most responsive, and responsible bidder. Public Works, in collaboration with procurement, is asking for approval to enter into agreement 0007 Laramie County Chip Seal 2026 with A1 Chip Seal. The contract will be issued for $1,764,023 with a notice to proceed date of June 8, 2026. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions? Mr. Chair, move to approve. Second. I have a question. Motion and a second. Discussion? Okay. How many miles of road is this?

Mr. Chair, I have Scott Larson in the audience. He might know the answer. Off the top of his head. I honestly don't remember.

Dang it. Okay. I was just reading through the descriptions of every road, and I was just trying to figure out. It's a healthy... road upgrade across multiple areas of Laramie County, I would also note, so.

Mr. Chair, that's correct. I could do some math really quick and let you know.

You're good. Okay.

Roll call, please. Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Zwanniser? Aye. Chairman Malm? Aye. Next item, please. Item 15, consideration of addendum contract to buy and sell real estate between Laramie County, Wyoming and Crypto Knight LLC in the amount of $370,948 to sell Laramie County property located inland of the Archer complex of approximately 64.85 acres. Okay. Mr. Voss?

This is a discussion that's been in for some time. This corporation, through its representatives, has requested to purchase property which is located on the east end of Archer property. This negotiation has taken place over a period of time. There are covenants attached to or as part of the deed to this property basically which sort of limit the uses so as not to violate any land use regulations. And the matter has come before the county commissioners for approval of the disposition of the property. We reviewed all the documentation associated with this, and we believe the county is fully insulated in this matter, as we should be, and that other documents associated with this are within the authority of the commissioners to execute.

Okay. I think I'll give a little bit of a history lesson because I think it's more than just a simple land transfer to an outside entity. So actually initially the purchaser of this property was the owner of this particular plot of land. It was outside the planned unit development for the Archer Complex. It was not part of anything that the county owned or operated. The landowner sought a trade with the county for some land south of Archer that we underutilized. And so about four years ago, maybe a little bit longer, we traded them land south of Archer where they currently operate for these two parcels of land. Our thought in doing that was to give us access for a thousand yard shooting range. Now, fast forward four years down the road, and they've approached us about purchasing this land back from the county. So initially we did a trade. Now they're going to purchase this land back. Note that we protected our ability to still have the 1,000-yard range by eliminating the top portion of the land from the sale. So our original goal of having a 1,000-yard range is still met, and we're able to – have some additional revenue, and like the oil and gas money that we get from underneath the Archer land, this money will go back into improvements at Archer. So whether it's at the event center or things like you've seen out there like the fences or corrals, all of those things, we put all the money that's earned from the Archer Center back into the Archer Center, and so this will be of that same thinking. Did I miss anything in that history lesson?

No.

Okay, commissioners. Mr. Chair, move to approve the resolution. Second. A motion and a second. Discussion by the commission? Discussion? It's not advertised.

Okay. Roll call, please. Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Zwanitzer? Aye. Chairman Malm?

Aye. Next item, please.

Item 16, public hearing to consider the following liquor license renewals applications for 2026-2027 retail liquor, Bittowayo Ranch and Events White Antelope Barn. And, Mr. Chairman, comments have been received and filed.

Okay, we have comments on file. Everything is good on your end?

Mr. Chairman, the applications are in order, yes, and this has been advertised for the two weeks that they need to be advertised in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.

Okay, this is a public hearing. If you'd like to speak on this item, please come forward. If you'd like to speak on this item, anybody online?

Yes, do we have one person online?

Okay, we'll wait and we'll take in the room first.

I'm Nancy Sleeper.

I'm a 20-year resident of Table Mountain Ranches.

Can you pull the microphone down? Sorry.

I'm Nancy Sleeper, a 20-year resident of Table Mountain Ranches. I prefer to read from my notes. Okay. Using public lands, BLM lands for access to a single private venue is a disgrace to the land. I have videos and some pictures. Can they be shown? I sent them. Oh, good. I want you to all see how beautiful this piece of land, this Brush Creek is. The lands are set aside for the generations to enjoy. That's me driving into Brush Creek. Once you start developing the land, you ruin it and you can't go back. Consider, I'm asking the Wyoming neighbors being considered, no access for a private venue to the Christine Brush Creek area. So unless the private venue finds another safer and less intrusive access to their venue, I urge the commissioners to deny their liquor license. Now this is just driving up to the bottom of the hill, and I wanted everybody to see how pretty that place is once you start. I start walking up the hill in the 360, so this video is a little bit longer than I wanted it to be. There's a creek to the left. This is so pretty. I can't wait to see it developed. Okay. If you go to the next one, this kind of... Okay. Maybe it shows more of the... 360 of how beautiful it is up there now there's another one that's higher up on the hill that shows how much land there is and how pristine it is that's the hill that would have to be negotiated there that's part of the hill yeah the next one would show okay this should do it I love it I feel like I'm at Shiloh Ranch or something so

Thank you very much. Thank you for coming. Anyone else in the room? Anyone online?

We do have a Kelly Zimmerman online.

Okay. Ms. Zimmerman. We'll take the online one real quick, then I'll go to you. So you can welcome to hang out here if you'd like.

Ms. Zimmerman?

You should be able to be heard now, and you should be unmuted.

Can you hear me? Can you hear me?

Yes, ma'am.

Great. Thank you for having me, county commissioners. Again, my name is Kelly Zimmerman. I own 484 Happy Jack Road. Regarding the retail liquor license renewal for Beetle Ventures, LLC, DBA, Biddlewild Ranch and Events, located at 470 Happy Jack Road, it is plain and simple. Your answer for renewal must be no. In November of 2025, you approved a new retail liquor license with the condition that Riedel Ventures must get site plan approval. The site plan has not been applied for as Riedel Ventures cannot prove legal access, which is required by Laramie County Planning and Development with application submittal. The fact of the matter is Riedel will not get it any time soon, if at all. BLM is requiring NEPA impact analysis and studies for the right-of-way road lease. right-of-way parking lot lease, and special recreation permit. Three separate items for the right-of-way, or excuse me, which Riedel has applied for. Riedel Ventures has not even been assigned NEPA project numbers for the road and parking lot right-of-ways yet. The depth of the studies which will be required are going to take an undetermined amount of time. Currently, the Rollins office is still in stage one of analysis for other private and commercial road right-of-way requests where no road work is requested. And these applications were submitted in 2024. Rideau Ventures is required by Laramie County Planning and Development to improve over a mile of road on BLM land from a narrow two-track road to a 20-foot developed road To think that Riedel Ventures is going to have their applications approved by BLM within the next year is laughable. Under Wyoming state law, Wyoming statute 124103, an awarded but unissued liquor license due to unmet contingencies can remain on hold for a maximum of one year. While all the same concerns and reasons for denial, which were brought to your attention seven months ago by the community and area residents remain true today, Riedel Ventures will not be able to meet the required contingencies at the one year mark in five months. So there is simply no way Riedel Ventures will have legal access, be able to get site plan approval, other business and facility and access permitting and constructions completed, including Laramie County Public Health and Wyoming Food Code requirements for which Riedel Ventures is currently not compliant. So within the next five months, you will legally be obligated to ensure Riedel Venture forfeits the license at that time. Although an awarded but unissued liquor license holder can file an extension up to one year, they also must be able to show good cause, such as construction delays or unforeseen setbacks. Regal Ventures LLC has known all along they did not have legal access, so there are no unforeseen setbacks causing construction delays. Lack of legal access was wholly and 100% foreseen. It was known prior to purchase of the property. I ask, how long are you going to allow this madness to go on? going to go ahead and reiterate all the reasons you ignored in november when you should have denied the liquor license then i encourage you to take a moment to reconsider the importance of making sure the safety and well-being of the community and area residents are your top priority i encourage you to make the right decision and deny this application for renewal of the liquor license for beetle ventures while this venue might promise economic growth we must weigh those potential benefits against the clear and present dangers it poses to our rural community. There are compelling and well-documented public safety and community impact reasons to die this application. First, let's address the most serious concern, public safety. The venue is located 30 minutes away from the city, meaning attendees will drive a significant distance on rural roads, Data from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Governor's Highway Safety Association consistently reveals that rural roads are beautiful, but they are hiding a deadly secret. Nearly half of all fatal crashes occur on them, even though only 19% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas. crash deaths per vehicle mile traveled are higher in rural areas than in urban areas. This increased risk is due to a combination of factors, including higher than safe travel speeds, the prevalence of two-lane roads without medians, and lack of lighting on rural roads, which describes Happy Jack Road to a T. Add to that the irregularly and poorly maintained dirt roads of Road 109, Table Mountain Ranch, and BLM, and you have an even greater recipe for disaster. Allowing alcohol consumption at this remote location would inevitably lead to a surge in impaired drivers navigating these dangerous roads, putting all of us at risk. National data confirms that rural roads account for a disproportionate percentage of alcohol impaired driving fatalities. Introducing a high volume drinking establishment into this environment would create an unacceptable risk for every family that calls this area home. Please remember, when Riedel Ventures first applied for this liquor license, quote unquote, all parties involved were going to be shuttled in. Many of us said that was, excuse me, many of us said that is unrealistic. But Riedel Ventures promised, and again I quote, all parties involved would be shuttled on site, including all patrons and vendors and staff. And yet, since then, each time Riedel Ventures presents itself in front of you or to planning and development, all parties involved continues to shift to fewer and fewer parties. And the last time we saw Riedel Ventures present to you, it was only, quote unquote, a certain number for large events. This certainly doesn't make anyone living and owning in the area feel safe and secure. Second, consider the burden on our local emergency services, our rural sheriff's deputies, volunteer firefighters, EMS personnel are a cherished but limited resource. Their stations are spread far apart over large geographic areas. When accidents occur on rural roads, response times are longer and help is farther away. An event venue serving alcohol would require our already strained emergency services to respond to a higher frequency of incidents, including alcohol-fueled disturbances and fights, medical emergencies related to overconsumption, and the inevitable life-threatening car accidents caused by impaired driving. The community's resources are meant to protect and serve our residents, not to subsidize the public safety costs of a commercial venture with a high risk business model. Third, a liquor license would negatively affect the character and tranquility of our rural community. This area is valued for its quiet, peaceful environment by both human and wildlife neighbors. In addition to a large scale event venue where alcohol is served, will introduce significant noise, light pollution, and increased traffic. Noise travels differently in the country than in the city, carrying further in the open air. This will disturb the peace for residents who have chosen to live here for that very reason, including our furry and feathered friends. many of which are endangered and legally protected. We are not an entertainment district. We are a residential and agricultural community. Finally, we must consider the precedent this license would set that you've already set. Approving a liquor license for this remote venue would signal that our community is willing to accept the significant safety risks and negative impacts that come with it. It would open the door for more alcohol-centric businesses in other unsuitable rural locations. We are not opposed to business or progress, but progress should not come at the expense of our community's safety and well-being. By denying this liquor license, the Board will uphold its responsibility to protect the residents, ensure the safety of our roads, and preserve the rural character of our community. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Ms. Zimmerman.

I came last month and I had questions, but they said to come for this meeting questions. So it's not necessarily about this specific subject, but I think it's a general concern. which I could probably piggyback off of what she said. So my name is Laura Doan and I live at 1621 Swing here in Cheyenne. I moved here and I brought my daughter with me. We packed everything up in a cattle trailer and moved what we had out here. It's pretty Wyoming, but I've served in the ER. I've seen all the kids and the darkness of Cheyenne, the kids that have come in that are suicidal, homicidal, the depression rate. I was a CASA advocate, so I've been involved in the foster system. I have been a youth leader, and again, I've raised my daughter. I've been very active in this community and God has given me a love for it. So my concern is seeing, and I've also worked in the school system, so seeing how sick the community is. And what are you planning to do? Because there's all these items of growth, which again, I'm like that woman. I'm not against the growth. I think a lot of people aren't against the growth. But when you have a city that's sick at its core, the police, fire, EMS, the schools are overworked, understaffed. The mental illness is sky high. The cost of living is sky high. the growth of apartment buildings versus affordable housing. That makes the lower class and the upper class, that gap greater. And so I'm not seeing any solutions or hearing any solutions about how sick the city is. And it is good to hear the people coming in and wanting to visit and bringing in money, but there's still a core issue. And so since we are one nation under God, And we did the Pledge of Allegiance saying that. The Lord has brought Scripture to me, and I just wanted to read it if I have the freedom. Sure. And I don't say any of this to shove God down anyone's throat, but we are one nation under God. And even Wyoming has prayer meetings from my understanding. In 1 Corinthians... 10 Paul is talking about glorifying God by seeking the welfare of your brother and he said all things are lawful but not all things are profitable all things are lawful but not all things are edifying let no one seek his own good but the good of his neighbor And so I ask, what is being done to seek the good of the people that are already here? I understand that there's people that want to move here and there's a housing shortage. But what's being done for the people that are already here, for the teachers that are overwhelmed, for the police, fire, and EMS, the hospital staff? they're very overwhelmed and they feel like no one is speaking up for them and i i have friends in the construction business so this is not against them this is not against any land developers but if we could just pause and take care of what's already here and then and then think about growing But that is really the statements and then the questions within it is what are the plans to help take care of what's already here.

Thank you. Anyone else like to speak on this item?

We do have one more person on line. Okay. Mr. Howard, you should be able to unmute and speak now. Mr. Howard, you are muted.

Mr. Chair, we're not getting a response from Mr. Howard. Okay. We'll go back to the end of the room. We'll close online comment.

Good afternoon, Commissioners.

I'm Tanya Riedel with Bitto Wire Ranch and Riedel Ventures. I don't know if it's helpful at this point or this to give a little bit of an update. We do have that the Bitto Wire Ranch had the BLM out again Wednesday. I tried to reach Justin today. We will have an update. I don't know if this is the appropriate hearing, but I think we will fall within those deadlines that were mentioned on the phone for the liquor license. And then we are in the process of getting our site plan prepared. We were waiting on several items, but we've made good progress. And, um, so I do think the license it's appropriate and we'll work for timing and it's just an issue of construction. And we are working on those things with Laramie County Health. And I think Jennifer was supposed to be here.

I see her. She's there in the middle of the room.

Oh, OK. So she needs to speak on anything in regards to the license. But is it helpful if I give you some updates at this point?

I mean, I think that if you tell us you're working on it, I'm good with that. Anybody else wants any?

Mr. Chair, through you. So quick question. Why renew the liquor license now? Why not just wait until you get everything done?

I think it was just the requirement from, you know, we're learning new. I believe we have to keep it. We have to renew it right now at this time of year because everybody's license has to be renewed. But then we still have to come before the site plan with the site plan one more time when the right-of-way is... That's my understanding is we couldn't not come to a hearing at this point. We have to keep it active at this point.

Okay. Any other questions? Okay. Thank you. All right. Anyone else in the room? Okay. Public hearing having met its purpose, the public hearing is closed. Commissioners? Mr. Chair, move to approve. Second. Motion and a second. Discussion?

discussion mr chair commissioner thompson so it it seems like we we have uh beat this up a lot um and this is a a former wedding venue event venue that that People want to get renewed and we've heard all of this multiple times and every time the Commission says we want to give these guys a chance and I don't think today is any different. While I admire the persistence of the folks opposed to this, i i still think we want to give these folks a chance and so i'm not certainly not opposed to extending this liquor license and continuing to give them a chance um to mrs doan's comment um i appreciate your comments and and this commission has really done a lot um over the years to help with You know, problems in our community with gambling, with addiction, with, you know, all sorts of things. And we have worked very, very hard with CRMC and grants and worked with them. You know, we've got the opioid money that we... formed a committee to look at applications for different or proposals for different treatments and different things we can do. So we're very aware of what you're talking about. And I think we've worked pretty hard to discuss those things and to work on those issues within our community. But certainly appreciate your comments here today and holding our feet to the fire on that.

Thank you, Commissioner Thompson. Anyone else?

Mr. Chairman, to you. Yeah, just to kind of give some explanation, I guess, to the first speaker. Nancy, I apologize. I didn't get your last name. But I agree, it's a beautiful area. It's pristine land. But unfortunately for us, it's owned by the BLM. And we have zero control over what they decide to do with that land. So we appreciate the point. But unfortunately, this commission here, especially when it comes to a liquor license, we don't have control over that BLM land and what they decide to do. And that's a different process for the applicant to go through. Ms. Doan, that's a big question with lots of answers. If you don't mind hanging out after the meeting, I'd love to sit down and we're happy to chit-chat about all the fun things we're trying to do and get your opinion. And unfortunately, that takes a village, so it's not just us. It's also the city entities and a lot of the smaller rural fire districts and the sheriff's office. again it takes a village but ultimately the good old Wyoming way that we talk about is neighbor helping neighbor be a good neighbor and that's unfortunately you see today that that doesn't always happen right because people have different private property rights and some people want to develop their property in this way and others appreciate it because it has these values right and that's unfortunately, what's become before the commission, and we have to be fair and equitable to everybody, and that's what makes us a difficult job sometimes. So if you don't mind hanging out, I'd be happy to sit down and chit-chat with you a little bit after the fact. We've got a lot of meeting left, but I don't want to hold everybody up. And then, of course, you know, Ms. Zimmerman... I had a lot of online comments there, and she brings up good points. But unfortunately, I mean, we can't govern on those points. So the public safety standpoint, in my mind, it's speculation. It comes with any new business or new house that comes out there. I can't say that traditionally this happened, so I won't allow you to based upon something that may happen. And I don't think I could do that with any homeowner or any business owner and say, well, this might happen, so we're going to tell you no. As far as emergency services goes, that's kind of the same thing. You know, that would say, hey, no one can use these roads because someone's going to get hurt. But, I mean, ultimately we have to find that balance. And in that same aspect, we hear a lot about what's going on within the business, and the county's not here to micromanage businesses. Say, hey, we're here to give you a fair shot. We realize it's a heck of a process. We're just one step in it. And, you know, we're here... to let you do what you want to do with your land and honor those private property rights and just say hey please try to be a good neighbor and try to find some compromise so moving on to that the character of the community again it goes on with those personal property rights right everybody buys their land for a reason and wants to use it the way they want to use it with and all we can try to do is say hey we're going to set some reasonable conditions We're trying to be good to your neighbor, but we have to be fair and equitable to you and that neighbor because you both have the same rights. So in that instance, again, we're just talking about this liquor license today. As Ms. Zimmerman alluded to, they still have five months before we have to reevaluate it, and I see no reason to shut it off now as they're still diligently trying, and we'll probably hear about this again in five months and, I guess, jump that hurdle when we come to it.

Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Rollins. Commissioner Hollingshead? Okay. Just briefly. Yeah, so we'll reach out. I had you sign in, correct? Okay. I'll show Commissioner Swanson on the sign-in sheet. We'll send you an email, and you guys can link up. Okay, thank you. All right, roll call, please.

When that was mentioned, I went back and looked, and the liquor license, in November of 24, was a new application, and the liquor license was authorized. However, it was conditioned on the completion of the site plan at that time by that commission. And I didn't know whether or not the board wished to continue that condition for issuance and operation of the liquor license pending the approval of the site plan. I just pulled up the minutes on it.

I'd anticipate that our intent was the same as it had originally been issued. Okay. Thank you. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead. Aye. Commissioner Thompson. Aye. Commissioner Swanitzer. Aye. Chairman Maughan.

Aye. Next item, please.

Okay. Item 17, public hearing regarding renewal of a franchise agreement with Spectrum Pacific West LLC, successor and interest to resident communications, non-action item, and comments have been received and filed.

Okay. Anyone in the room want to come forward and speak on the franchise agreement for Spectrum Internet and cable? Public hearing going once. Anybody online?

Mr. Chair, there's no one online.

Charter, Spectrum, I don't know what their name is this week. Anyone else? One more time. Public hearing. Public hearing has met its purpose. Public hearing is closed. Okay. Next item.

Item 18, public hearing regarding minor subdivision permit and plat for Captain Solitera, a subdivision located at a portion of Section 30, Township 15 North, Lane 62 West of the 6 p.m. Laramie County, Wyoming.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning and Development, Style Surveying Services, LLC, on behalf of landowner Ramiro Dorado-Rizales, has submitted a minor subdivision permit and plat application for Captain Saltiera Subdivision, located at State Highway 213 and County Road 216. The application has been submitted for the purpose of subdividing the property into 16 lots with each averaging between 5.25 and 8.84 acres. The property consists of 90.1 acres and is designated the land use zone district and is currently residential land. The surrounding area consists of residential and agricultural within the land use zone district. And with that, we have the agent for the applicant, Shane Hanson, here to answer any questions you may have today.

Mr. Hanson. Good afternoon. Shane Hansen, Stiles Surveying Services. Happy to answer any questions you guys might have about this particular project.

Any questions for Mr. Hansen before we hear the full staff report? No. Okay. Full staff report, please. Thank you, Shane.

Mr. Chairman, members of the Board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning. The Laramie County Comprehensive Plan designates this area as ag and range land. A subdivision of more than five lots requires submittal of a Chapter 23 study to the Department of Environmental Quality with a non-adverse recommendation letter being received prior to plat recordation. Individual septics will provide sanitary services. According to the adopted Amec Memo, dated January 31, 2014, the property lies within Zone 2 of the study area. That states that lots within the zone shall be a minimum of 5 acres, with development design standards including .25 acres to accommodate for the impervious surface of residential structures and driveways. Public notice was provided as required with no written public comment received. The Planning Commission met on May 14th, 2026 and recommended approval by a vote of five to zero in favor of. There were complaints related to water availability and potential noise related to this development from the public during that hearing. Based upon evidence provided, staff recommends the board find that A, this application meets the criteria for the subdivision permit in Platte pursuant to section 45100 Romanette 2 of the LCLUR and B, this application is in conformance with section 24104 governing the land use zone district. and that the Board may approve the subdivision permit in Platte for Captain Soltiera, located in a portion of Section 30, Township 15 North, Range 62 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, Laramie County, Wyoming, with the following condition, that being a non-adverse Chapter 23 study recommendation from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality must be received prior to Platte recordation. And with that, I stand for any questions from the body.

Any questions for Mr. Arnold? Any questions? Okay, this is a public hearing. If you'd like to speak on this item, please come forward now. Mr. Brown.

My name is Charlie Brown, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. I used to say I moved to Wyoming in 1949, but if the truth be known, my parents moved me here in 49. Graduated from LaGrange High and then UW. Got commissioned into the Air Force and basically from there traveled the world. But now, I own the property just to the north of that. And so you've heard what I've had to say before, or you haven't. It's been said before today, the lady online for the item number 16, I'm going to reverse those. And gentlemen, I don't envy you your job. You have tough decisions, and many of them more major than this little minor subdivision next to my property. I mean, it really is. The last time, wait, I want to back up. I'm not coming here like a person that brought property next to an airport and then complains about the noise. We got the property where we did because we had no noise. Bob and Bobby, the people that owned it before, were nice, quiet people, except when Bob went out and did his target practice, but then I My wife and I would do it the next day, so that was okay. And I mentioned this before. I'm going to mention it again. If somehow the noise from this development can be stopped at my southern fence, most of my concerns are met. I was told last time that's the sheriff's department. and the eye rolls that we got. I mean, is that what you want the Sheriff's Department doing? Our emergency medical services are stretched so thin. And now I think Commissioner Malm in the letter I sent you, I used the word willy-nilly subdivisions. I see that happening throughout the county. Our emergency medical, sheriffs, police, fire are spread thin now. Now you add 16 more lots here, 16 lots here, 16 lots here. If this keeps going on, are we planning? How are we going to handle this? At some point, I think we need to stop, regroup, and figure out how to handle this first before we let this happen and trying to catch up. I'm looking at my notes. I appreciate your response last time at the Planning Commission when I mentioned the water use. And you went, yeah, and there's center pivots out there, 600 gallons a minute, which we have just south of me. And I went, yeah, okay, water's not a big concern. But, again, it's the noise. It's the what I'm going to have just south of me. I heard all your comments and I'm just going, oh my gosh, I'm just repeating what everybody else has said before me today. And I heard your response to that. So just because you don't vote the way I want you to doesn't mean I'm going to go running around town saying you didn't listen to me. I know you have. I can tell by your response you are listening. I really don't want to see this, but I would also like to thank you for giving me the time to speak to you. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Brown. Appreciate you. All right. Anyone else in the room want to come speak on this item? Anybody online?

Mr. Chair, there's no one online wishing to make comment.

Okay. One more time in the room. Okay. Public hearing having met its purpose, the public hearing is closed. Commissioners?

Mr. Chair, I move to adopt the findings of fact to NBA staff reporting to approve the subdivision permit in Platt for Captain Sultiera, located in a portion of Section 30, Township 15 North, Range 67 West of the 6 PM, Laramie County, Wyoming. The following condition, number one, a non-adverse Chapter 23 study recommendation from the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality must be received prior to Platt recordation. Second. Motion and second. Discussion? Mr. Chair. Commissioner Thompson. So to Mr. Brown's comments. So I disagree. Water is a huge issue for us. And I would tell you that if we go back about, I don't know, 10 to 12 years ago, the young lady sitting behind you was a part of a committee that we put together, a water committee, to help water. with Laramie County Control District and how we manage that and through that process we came up with there was a study that was done and we asked the state engineer to allow us to give us some sort of information we could have for subdivisions and what would the minimum lot size be that we could have a non-adverse impact on our aquifer and so in this particular area was the 5.25 acres per lot and that's what we've gone with in that area. To your comment about the willy-nilly subdivisions, I mean if we could have everything perfectly in a box You know, two miles around Cheyenne, we've got this amount of acreage, and three miles we have this, and five miles this. But unfortunately, life doesn't work that way. And this particular person owns this property, and he wants to subdivide it. We can't make him move that property elsewhere. Very similar, I mean, you live in a very agricultural area where there's sections of land. You're on 10 acres. Well, the southern portion has been subdivided into 10 acres. And same conversation the Commission at that time probably had with those folks. Why in the world are we subdividing into 10 acres when this is the middle of an agricultural area? And so this commission has always taken the stance of we want to let people do what they want to do with their land. But we also are tasked with minimizing the negative impacts on the neighbors. And we minimize those negative impacts on the neighbors through our land use plans and our land use regulations. And that's why we have those. And so I have always been a firm believer that if somebody has a piece of property, they want to do something with it. and they're doing it within our rules, i.e. our land use regulations, then we don't have a reason to tell them no. And so while I appreciate your comments, I think this piece of property fits exactly within our land use regulations and what we intended. And so for that reason, I'll vote in favor of this today.

Mr. Chairman, just real quick too, if it alleviates any of your concerns related to fire services, please be advised that upon approval of rural subdivisions, they're subject to what are called community facility and public safety fees, which requires the developer to pay $50 per platted acre in this instance. and then an additional $1,000 per platted lot. And what that goes into is this pot specifically for rural fire suppression, whether that be rural fire cistern installation, rural fire apparatus purchases, or fire station construction. So there is a pot that that goes into that the fire districts can approach the commissioners. It's a discretionary fund to mitigate some of those impacts from fire suppression. So I hope that helps a little bit, too.

OK. And I would just quickly note, very much appreciate the comments, Mr. Brown. I appreciate, quite frankly, your kindness and understanding in the whole deal. Like Commissioner Thompson said, if we could plan it all out, that'd be great. But that greatly reduces the ability for people to utilize their land, which is very difficult for me to swallow. I'd also note that we tried those land use regulations Commissioner Thompson mentioned. We tried just last summer to make some minor tweaks to protect residential neighborhoods from commercial businesses. And I had 400 people yelling at me for five hours about how I shouldn't tell them what to do with their land and our current rules were bad and they didn't want the new rules. Because they didn't want any rules. Ironically, some of those people now come to our meetings and tell us not to approve certain projects, but that's neither here nor there. So I can't imagine if we tried to zone the whole county and tried to do real planned growth. And I understand and can appreciate the situation that you're in. But again, I go back to if you own it and you follow our rules, you should have your rights to be able to utilize it for that legal purpose. But again, I appreciate the kindness with which you spoke to us today. That's not often seen in this room. So I've got to point it out when it happens. And I hope that you have a great day. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Zalanda, sir? Aye. Chairman Malm?

Aye. Next item, please.

Item 19, public hearing regarding a Class C conditional use permit for the BT campground cabins and a modest plat for a lot line adjustment for BT2, first subdivision, third filing, Laramie County, Wyoming. And, Mr. Chairman, two motions are required. Mr. Arnold.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning and Development. I would note that I'm presenting on behalf of Sunny Portia, the project planner, and this project is at 227 South Greeley Highway. Daroon Consulting LLC, on behalf of the landowner, BT2 LLC, has submitted an application for an approval of a Class C conditional use permit for BT campground cabin location. They have also submitted applications for a modest plot line adjustment, which requires a vacation from this body to acquire land for a new cabin location. Again, I mentioned it requires BOCC approval, and a site plan amendment to include the cabin use, which will be administratively approved. These additional applications are being combined for ease of use in reading and will be determined by means listed above. The purpose of the project is to expand the campground to include eight new cabins that will be situated on the newly acquired portion of land. The subject property is located in the community business zone district and consists of 0.43 acres with the remainder of the BT campground being a planned unit development zone district. The surrounding area is also zoned community business zone district. The property is currently assessed from South Greeley Highway. And with that, we do have Deanne Roon here, applicant who can answer any questions you have specific to the project.

And I'm Deanne Rune from De Rune Consulting, and this is John Agnew, the owner of the property. We're excited about this project. We've come before the board a number of times over the years, and this ends up being a natural extension to an already approved campground project so that we can have rental cabins and an entry feature. It actually enhances

the campground that we already have approved at this location okay any questions for the applicant okay full staff report please thank you guys

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning. The Laramie County Comprehensive Plan designates this area as urban-rural interface. This property is part of the South Cheyenne Water and Sewer District and regulations pertaining to water and sewer services will be addressed in the site plan application administratively. This property is part of the South Cheyenne Water and Sewer, excuse me, public notice was published and neighbor notice letters were sent via first class mail. Staff received no written comments from adjacent landowners and agency comments have been addressed. A conditional use is given to land use meant to be beneficial to the permitted uses or those similar within a zoning district with conditions where it requires conditions to mitigate impacts it may have on the surrounding area. Every listed land use or land use proposal similar in nature, intensity, and community impact which requires a conditional use permit has probable impacts and is required to meet all conditions of the LCOUR. It was determined that a Class C conditional use permit would be required along with a site plan. Class C conditional uses are generally those which are presumed intense in nature and likely require conditions to mitigate impacts that may have on the surrounding area and uphold public health safety and general welfare any condition placed by the governing body shall be met via the side plan the planning commission met on may 14 2026 and recommended approval by a vote of five to zero in favor of based on section 23102 subsection d romanette 3 governing the class c conditional use permits in section 42103 governing modest platte Lot line adjustments of the 2025 land use regulation. Staff finds this application is in conformance with the plans and policies of Laramie County. And based upon evidence provided, staff recommends the board find that A, this application is in conformance with section 24105 governing the community business zone district and This application meets the criteria for a Clash C conditional use permit pursuant to Section 23102, Subsection D, Rome Net 3 of the 2025 LCLUR-NC. This application meets the criteria for a modest plot line adjustment pursuant to Section 42103 of the Laramie County Land Use Regulations. And that the board may approve the Class C conditional use permit for campground cabins and approve the modest plot line adjustment for BT2, first subdivision, third filing, Laramie County, Wyoming, with no conditions. And with that, I stand for any questions.

Any questions for Mr. Arnold? Any questions? Okay, this is a public hearing. If you'd like to speak on this item, please come forward. Anybody online?

I'm online at this time, Mr. Chair.

One more time in the room. Anybody want to speak on this public hearing item? Public hearing having met its purpose, the public hearing is closed. Commissioners?

Mr. Chair, first item here, I move to adopt the findings in fact of A and B of the staff report and to approve the Class C conditional use permit for BT2 Camp Brown Cabins, Laramie County, Wyoming with no conditions.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Discussion by the commission. Discussion? Discussion? Roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Sawanisar? Aye. Chairman Mom?

Aye. Commissioners?

Next item, I move to approve and adopt the funding effect of C of the staff report and to approve the Modest Platte lot line adjustment for BT-2, 1st Subdivision, 3rd Filing, Laramie County, Wyoming, with no conditions.

Second. Motion to second any discussion. Discussion? Roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead?

Aye.

Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Zwaneser? Aye. Chairman Malm? Aye. Next item, please. Item 20, public hearing regarding a modest plat for Swan Ranch Rail Park. 20th filing, Laramie County, Wyoming. And this was postponed from the May 5th and 19th, 2026 meetings. Carnival.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning and Development. AVIPC, on behalf of 2R Investments LLC, has submitted a modest plat application for Swan Ranch Rail Park Subdivision, 20th filing. Situated in a portion of Sections 14 and 15, Township 13 North, Range 67 West of the 6th Principal Meridian, Laramie County, Wyoming. The subject property is located at 6421 Speer Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming. The purpose of the application is to create a 26.29 acre single lot subdivision, leaving the remaining acres unplatted. The new subdivision is planned to be annexed into the city of Cheyenne. The subject property is currently assessed as agricultural land located in the Light Industrial Zone District. The surrounding area is owned a mixture of community business and light industrial and is used for commercial enterprises. Permanent statutes and 2025 LCLUR regulations include Wyoming State Statute 185304 through 3412106, Section 24107 governing the light industrial zone district and section 42102 governing the modest plat and simple subdivision on an unplatted parcel. And with that, we do have Mark Christiansen, agent for the applicant with AVI, here to answer any questions you may have.

Mr. Christiansen.

Good afternoon, commissioners. Through you, my name is Mark Christensen. I am with ABI PC at 1103 Old Town Lane, agent for the applicant. So this item is for you is a very simple subdivision to plot that one lot, really clean up some ownership items to move this forward into the city. We have submitted for the annexation and then future plotting with the city. So looking at those future connections and all those sorts of things that were noted by the planning and development director in their response to the review. But really, this is to clean everything up and get it ready to move forward with the city. And I'm available for any questions.

Okay. Any questions? Questions? Okay, this is a public hearing. If you'd like to speak, oh no, full staff report, sorry. Got ahead of myself.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning. The Laramie County Comprehensive Plan identifies the area as urban-rural interface. Agency review comments were addressed and plat updated. Public notice was provided pursuant to section 13100 of the 2025 LCLUR with no comments being received. Based on evidence provided, staff finds that A, this application meets the criteria for a modest plat with a lot line adjustment within a recorded subdivision pursuant to section 42103 of the 2025 LCLUR and B, This application is in conformance with section 24107 governing the light industrial zone district. And that the board of commissioners may approve the modest plot known as Swan Ranch Rail Park 20th filing with no conditions and adopt findings of fact A and B of the staff report. And with that, I stand for questions.

Okay, any questions for Justin? Questions? Okay, this is a public hearing. If you'd like to speak on this item, please come forward.

Ms. Madrid? Hello, Heather Madrid. I live in Harmony Meadows. Can you guys hear me OK?

Yep.

I just want to say that I attended planning commission meeting for the city last night and so I understand that this area can and probably will already be a data center so that's not my really my concern so much but I just would like to request and I know that the vast majority of data centers are currently in the city but they were in the land was in the county in the very recent past for a lot of these properties and And so I guess I would just like to request that the commission kind of take some ownership of that huge responsibility before we just continue handing Wayland to the city so that it can become a data center in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Madrid. And can I... So much like we talked about with Mr. Brown, the difficulty, at least for me in this, is that an owner is requesting to be annexed. And that's their right is to ask to be in the city. And so I find it very difficult to tell somebody, again, it's their right to be annexed. And so it's just, it's a difficult position, but I do appreciate, um, you're asking your position. Um, and I'm happy, like I said, happy to meet with you now that maybe we have more time since.

Yeah. And this, again, this property, I mean, I don't love that it's probably going to be a data center, but I do understand that it, the land use, it makes sense. And it, you know, it's a good fit, I guess, if there has to be a fit for a data center. But, so I do understand that. And it's not about this particular, you know,

But I understand what you're saying, but happy to talk with you more about it. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Okay, anyone else? Anyone else like to speak on this item? Anybody online?

No comments online at this time, Mr. Chair.

Okay, public hearing having met its purpose, the public hearing is closed. Commissioners?

Mr. Chair, I move to approve the modest plot for Swan Ranch Rail Parks, subdivision 20 filing, located in portions of section 14 and 15, township 13 north, range 67 west of the 6 PM Laramie County, with no conditions, and adopt the findings of facts A and B of the staff report.

Second. Motion and second. Discussion by the commission? Discussion? Roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Swanitzer?

Aye.

Chairman Maum?

Aye. Next item, please.

Item 21, public hearing regarding a small subdivision permit and plat for LaFond, Pasture, Laramie County, Wyoming.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning Style Surveying Services, LLC, on behalf of John Jay and Anita R. LaFond, has submitted a small subdivision permit and plat application for LaFond Pasture, located at Tract 2, K2 Ranch Estates. I should note that I'm presenting on behalf of Kate Cundall. The subject property is currently assessed as residential land and located in the land use zone district. The surrounding area consists of land use zone district and bordered by residential subdivisions. Lot sizes are consistent with the surrounding area. We have Shane Hanson here to answer any questions you have as he's the agent for the applicant.

Mr. Hanson. Good afternoon. Shane Hanson, Style Surveying. Happy to answer any questions you have regarding this project.

Any questions for Shane before we hear the full staff report? Okay. Full staff report, please, Justin.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning. The existing residential access and new access will be via Road 138. The Laramie County Comprehensive Plan identifies the area as rural ag interface. An individual well and septic system provides water and sanitary services to the existing residents on track one. The subdivision lies within the AMEX Zone 2 area and meets all minimum lot size standards. Public notice was completed pursuant to section 12104 with two comments being received with concerns that proposed subdivision violates the covenants on the property. Laramie County does not verify the veracity of this contention, nor does it enforce protective covenants as they are a civil contract amongst stakeholders of lands to which they apply. Based upon evidence provided, staff finds that A, this application meets the criteria for a small subdivision permit in Platte pursuant to section 45102 subsection C of the 2025 LCLUR. And B, this application is in conformance with section 24104 governing the land use zone district. And that the Board of Commissioners may approve the small subdivision permit in Platte for LaFond Pasture, excuse me, with no conditions and adopt the findings of fact A and B of the staff report. I stand for any questions.

Any questions for staff? Okay, this is a public hearing. If you'd like to speak on this item, please come forward now. Public hearing. Anybody online?

No, Mr. Chair.

Public hearing. Go in once. Public hearing has met its purpose. It is closed.

Commissioners? Mr. Chair, I move to approve the small subdivision permit in Platford-LaFont Pasture located at Track 2, KT Ranch Estates. Third filing record of survey with no conditions. Adopted finding in fact A and B of the staff report.

Second. Motion and a second. Discussion by the Commission? Discussion? I just would note that I appreciate Mr. Arnold's inclusion of, we do see the comments regarding covenants, but again, those are a private contract between landowners and individuals, and the government does not enforce or play any role in covenants or in their enforcement. With that, roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Weinstein? Aye. Chairman Maum?

Aye. Next item, please.

Item 22, public hearing regarding invocation of Tracks 17, 18, and 19, Allison Tracks, and approval of a small subdivision permit and platform Allison Tracks, 13, filing, Laramie County, Wyoming.

Mr. Arnold.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning and Development, AVIPC, on behalf of Maurice W. Brown Shopping Center and Land Development LLC, has submitted a small subdivision permit and plat application for this referenced lot. The subdivision reconfigures the existing four parcels into three parcels to allow for the transfer of the vacant land for futures. There is no development considered at this time, nor new development on the existing developed parcels. The subject property is currently assessed as commercial land and located in the community business zone district. The surrounding area consists of community business zone district and bordered by commercial uses as well. Lot sizes are consistent with surrounding area. With that, we have Mark Christensen again with AVI to answer any questions you may have.

Mr. Christensen.

Yes, Chair, through you, members of the commission, my name is Mark Christensen. I am the agent for the applicant from AVI PC at 1103 Old Town Lane. Again, just here for questions. There is no development proposed at this time. It's cleaning the plot up for future land transfer.

Okay. Any questions? Mr. Chair, through you.

Do you have any plans for the land to the north of the road as well, the same owner? Not to be included in this? That's just future?

The chair threw you out, to my knowledge, filling in for Bradman Emmons on this one, so I'm not aware of it. Gotcha.

So it's just not often we actually increase land, so I'm kind of excited. Thank you.

Okay.

I'm not really excited, but I'm just.

You're excited. I can tell.

Okay.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Christensen. Full report.

Mr. Chairman, members of the board, Justin Arnold, Laramie County Planning. The Laramie County Comprehensive Plan identifies the area as urban-rural interface, which accommodates a mixture of more intensive land uses. The parcel lies within the planche and mixed-use commercial or MUC area. South Cheyenne Water and Sewer District provides water and sanitary services to the parcel. Public notice was completed pursuant to section 12104 with no comments being received. Agency reviews were completed and all were addressed. Based upon evidence provided, staff finds that A, this application meets the criteria for a small subdivision permitting plat pursuant to section 45102 subsection C. of the 2025 LCLUR and B, this application is in conformance with section 41102 governing the subdivision plat vacation. And C, this application is in conformance with section 24105 governing the community business zone district. And that the board of commissioners may approve the vacation of tracks 17, 18, and 19 Allison tracks and approve the small subdivision permit and plat for Allison tracks 13th filing. and adopt the findings of fact A, B, and C of the staff report. And I stand for any questions, and this will require two motions, I should note.

Any questions for Mr. Arnold before I open the public hearing? Okay, this is a public hearing. If you'd like to speak on this item, please come forward. Public hearing, one more time. Anybody online?

No, Mr. Chairman.

No one online. Public hearing one more time. Public hearing has met its purpose. Public hearing is closed. Commissioners?

Mr. Chair, through you, first item, proposed motion to vacate. I move to approve to the vacate of Tracts 17, 18, and 19, Allison Tracts, and approve the small subdivision permit and plat for Allison Tract, 13th filing subdivision, and adopt the finding of facts A, B, and C of the staff report.

Second. Motion and second. Discussion by the commission. Discussion? Roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Swanitzer? Aye. Chairman Malm?

Aye.

Before we adjourn, I would note- Second item. We've got to do the second item.

Oh, the second motion, sorry.

Dang it.

Mr. Chair, through you, I move to approve the vacation of tracks 17, 18, and 19 Allison tracks and approve the small subdivision permit and plot for Allison tracks 13th filing subdivision and adopt the findings of facts A, B, and C of the staff report.

Motion and a second. Discussion? Discussion? Roll call, please.

Commissioner Hollingshead? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. Commissioner Swanitzer? Aye. Chairman Momin?

Aye. Okay. Now, before we adjourn, there's the sign-up sheet out front, and I know a lot of folks came in anticipation of the final item that we moved to the front and postponed. I'd ask that you sign in and maybe note by your name that that's the item you were there for, and we will have Mr. Arnold or someone from the planning department Update you when we know for sure. Right now it's planned to be the 16th, but if something changes, we will send an email to let you know that it's not going to be on that date or that it's been withdrawn. But I don't want to make people come back here again for another postponement or to sit here and not hear the item. So we will try, if you can sign up on the sheet out front, we'll make every accommodation to be in contact with you and update you about the process and where it's at. So with that, we are adjourned. Thank you.