Cheyenne City Council denies code change intended to incentivize more housing

Nov. 28—CHEYENNE — Cheyenne's Planning and Development Department has been rolling out a series of proposals to update code requirements for building with the goal of incentivizing development — ultimately increasing the supply of housing and decreasing the cost of construction and rent.

However, its first large-scale proposal was rejected by the Cheyenne City Council on Monday.

"It has no standards at all," said council member Mark Rinne. "If we have no standards, we will generally get the bare minimum."

The proposed ordinance would have amended the Unified Development Code — which sets requirements for all new developments in the city — to remove a certain building façade requirement for multifamily residential development.

Currently, at least 30% of the façade of all multifamily developments must be made of brick or stone. This has no impact on the structural integrity of the building and is purely aesthetic, development staff have said.

Architects, contractors and city planning staff all advocated in favor of this amendment, saying it would make development cheaper and likely increase the housing supply. A recent report from Laramie County Community College and the Greater Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce predicted there will be a shortage of more than 1,000 housing units in Laramie County within five years.

The study recommends making "any change possible to allow for more multi-family housing, whether it's removing height restrictions, rezoning land or changing parking restrictions."

Dan Dorsch, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Laramie County and the vice chair of the Cheyenne Affordable Housing Task Force, said this change would not only incentivize housing development, but pave the way for more affordable housing options.

"The 30% requirement, as it stands, makes it hard for [developers] to make the math work to keep their units affordable because they have building costs, and they have to keep those costs under a certain level per federal requirements to make those affordable units," Dorsch said.

He added that sometimes the stone and brick requirement can make it more difficult to install more energy-efficient HVAC units, which could lower the utility bill for tenants going forward.

Ansley Mouw, architectural designer for Winters Griffith Architects, also expressed her support for the amendment.

"You can't govern good design," Mouw said.

She said Cheyenne is the only municipality she is aware of that has this kind of façade requirement.

"How do we protect the community against somebody who just comes in and builds plain white clapboard four-plexes and just puts a whole bunch of them in there?" Mayor Patrick Collins asked, expressing a concern about aesthetics shared by many of the council members.

"If people are not attracted to what you're building, they won't buy it," said Jason Stephen, owner of Gateway Construction. "And I can tell you that from experience."

Stephen also noted that sometimes providing affordable housing options to residents is more important than making the building look pretty. He said these developments don't have to be on the highway or on the main road, but could be in more concealed locations. He and Mouw both noted that other towns that don't have this façade requirement, like Fort Collins, don't have an issue of becoming overpopulated with ugly buildings.

Stephen said removing this requirement would shave off $400,000 worth of building expenses for a 100-unit complex his company is currently working on.

Cheyenne Planning and Development Director Charles Bloom said that this amendment on its own wouldn't solve the issue of overpriced housing, but it was a step in the right direction.

"The premise for this, as I understand it, is we don't have enough multifamily housing," said council member Tom Segrave. "I disagree with that." He then went on to cite some current housing developments under construction in Cheyenne on Converse Avenue and in the Saddle Ridge neighborhood.

Regardless, the LCCC report said "to have a properly functioning housing market, Laramie County will be 1,150-1,250 housing units short of what's needed" by 2028, including 600 apartment units.

Council member Richard Johnson said many of the 1,800 people on the Cheyenne Housing Authority waiting list for affordable housing will not be able to afford the new developments referenced by Segrave.

"This is for basically the upgrade of individuals moving throughout the community to free up these other lots," Johnson said.

Next week, there will be four more proposals presented to the City Council's Public Services Committee for consideration.

These include reducing window requirements on residential building façades, removing minimum lot area requirements, removing density requirements for multi-dwelling buildings and reducing required parking spaces for multi-family developments. City staff said these changes are also intended to simplify building requirements and reduce construction costs.

Segrave said there is already a struggle for enough parking and that he sees these changes as unnecessary and misguided.

"Quite frankly, I'm not in favor of any of these changes," he said. "If you put this all together as a package, what has been recommended to us, I think, is devastating to the future of multifamily in the city."

Seth Lloyd, a city planner for Cheyenne Planning and Development, said the proposed code changes are pursuant to the recommendations of the city's Affordable Housing Task Force, created by the City Council in March 2021.

The amendment failed 8-1, with Johnson casting the lone vote in favor. Mayor Collins did not vote.

Noah Zahn is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's local government/business reporter. He can be reached at 307-633-3128 or nzahn@wyomingnews.com. Follow him on X @NoahZahnn.