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Wyoming Planning Commissioners Recommend Permanent Housing Fund
Jackson and Teton County (Wyoming) planning commissioners have recommended establishment of a permanent fund to pay for an affordable-housing program, according to the Jackson Hole Daily. Although the commissioners didn’t specify where the money would come from, they stated they wanted the fund ''to help lessen the reliance on new development to provide affordable housing.'' ''Housing should be separated from development,'' Jackson Planning Commissioner Michael Pruett said. ''We need a permanent funding source with clear direction, not to land bank, but to buy existing housing stock.''
The two boards also included ''provisions in another recommendation that recognize resort jobs as a vital part of the community and as something that should be addressed in an affordable-housing program. That endorsement stipulated that the plan should promote Jackson Hole as a community first and a resort second.'' 2/1/2010
Resource(s): www.jhnewsandguide.com/
Cost Savings from Cutting Greenhouse Emissions Outlined at Wyoming Energy Forum
Regardless of their personal suspicions of global warming arguments as exaggerated and potentially hurtful to the state's oil, gas and coal production, its local officials should cut greenhouse gas emissions, if only to reap energy cost savings such as hundreds of jurisdictions across the country and the industries themselves already enjoy, said Jackson Mayor Mark Barron and former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson at a Casper College forum -- the first speaker the only Wyoming signatory of the 2005 U.S. Mayors Climate Change Protection Agreement, the other the initiator of his city's landmark ''green'' program ahead of the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Early in the forum, which launched a climate-change series sponsored by University of Wyoming Outreach Credit Programs, University of Wyoming Casper College Center, and Haub School and Ruckelshaus Institute of Environment and Natural Resources, reports Jackson Hole Star-Tribune writer Dustin Bleizeffer, Natrona County Commissioners generally agreed that lower emissions and pollution would be good, yet some questioned the direction of the debate.
''I do believe we need to be good stewards and I think we are,'' Commissioner Matt Keating told Mayor Anderson, ''but some of the issues that I have with global warming advocates is that they always seem to direct all of their focus at coal and oil and gas, and that's what drives our state.''
Commissioner Barb Peryam dismissed an allusion to ''fringe'' scientists, who challenge the global warming evidence, as paid off by oil and coal companies, saying their disagreement with Mayor Anderson doesn't mean they're dishonest.
Restating his main theme about carbon emission reduction as good business, the mayor pointed out that major corporations are the best proof, with DuPont saving $2 billion through a 67-percent pollutant cut, and BP America turning to solar and wind energy to help power its operations in the Wamsutter gas field in south-central Wyoming.
Mayor Anderson's widely acclaimed green program, the writer observes, enabled Salt Lake City to cut emissions by 31 percent from 2001 to 2006, and to burn the methane captured at its landfill and sewage treatment facilities for ''co-generation'' of their own operational energy.
And that's the straight financial benefit Jackson Mayor Barron promotes in his outreach to his counterparts and other officials throughout the state.
In 2006, the writer notes, Jackson changed the standard light bulbs for more efficient ones at several facilities, getting a $13,000 utility rebate from Lower Valley Energy and expecting to recoup the investment within 3.5 to 5.5 years, while reducing carbon emissions by 32 tons a year.
In subsequent partnership with Teton County, the town moved to expand energy efficiency to transportation, recycling and other municipal services, and last year passed a resolution to reduce its use of fossil-fuel-based electricity by 10 percent before 2011.
''Our quality of life depends on energy extraction,'' Mayor Barron said during the forum, stressing that his signature under the Mayors Climate Change Protection Agreement reflects not an ''us against them'' stance -- ''them'' meaning energy companies credited for the state's budget surplus in recent years -- but simply confirms Wyoming's conservative values of financial frugality and deep care for its air, water, wildlife and landscapes.
Details of the Mayors Climate Change Protection Agreement at www.seattle.gov/mayor/climate/default.htm. -- Star-Tribune 9/14/2008
Resource(s): www.jacksonholestartrib.com/
Cheyenne Gets Advice on Street, Sidewalk Improvements from Walkability Expert
Like many other cities and suburbs laid out primarily for drivers rather than pedestrians and only recently ready to become less auto-dependent and more sustainable, Cheyenne turned for counsel to Walkable Communities founder Dan Burden, a Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin senior urban planner, who told officials and residents on a joint city tour that they could benefit from slimmer roads that would rein in vehicle speed and from at least six-foot-wide sidewalks that would make walking easy, safe and increasingly popular.
The national expert, reports Cheyenne Wyoming Eagle-Tribune writer Michelle Dynes, pointed out that by narrowing some streets, which now reach up to 39 or 52 feet in width, the city would both gain space for bike lanes and slow traffic down, and by widening sidewalks, which have just four or three-and-a half feet in some places, it would open them to walking side by side, in groups, and even with strollers.
He also called attention to excessive parking slots, many much wider than the largest truck, noting that cities often fund more asphalt and concrete than a project needs -- all wasted money that could be better spent on schools, parks and other amenities serving the common good.
A subsequent Wyoming Eagle-Tribune editorial urged city officials to follow Dan Burden's advice and raised a few other issues.
Too many stretches of sidewalks are ''in disrepair,'' uneven or cracked by weeds, which is dangerous and discourages walking, the editorial said, agreeing that a wholesale replacement of sidewalks ''would be cost prohibitive,'' but calling for ''a plan that incorporates wider sidewalks, narrower driving lanes and bicycle lanes'' for prospective construction or reconstruction.
''While Cheyenne doesn't have the population of Chicago, there is no reason why the city can't promote walking and bicycling,'' the editorial stressed. ''It saves residents' money and helps create a healthier lifestyle.'' -- Wyoming Eagle-Tribune 9/4/2008
Resource(s): www.wyomingnews.com/
Cheyenne Officials Removing Obstacles to Smart Growth
''We don't have the luxury to do sprawl development like we did in past decades,'' said Cheyenne urban planning director Matt Ashby, citing high gas prices as another reason for compact mixed-uses. ''Previously, people thought, 'It would be nice to live in a smart-growth neighborhood.' But it didn't have the impact on their pocketbook that it has now.''
Consequently, reports Wyoming Tribune-Eagle writer Michelle Dynes, city officials are even more determined during the current revision of zoning codes to remove obstacles in implementation of the long-term PlanCheyenne blueprint, which offers residents choices beyond the usual singe-family home.
When developers proposed a mixed-use neighborhood now known as the Village -- just two miles north of central Cheyenne, on the other side of the airport -- they had to jump ''through several hoops'' to make it a reality, director Ashby recalled, stressing that the market increasingly demands such development and the city shouldn't make it harder.
City senior planner Brandon Cammarata said dense land-use patterns save taxpayers money on road construction and maintenance, help improve water quality by limiting paved surfaces, and boost transit ridership, while fewer and shorter auto trips generate less tailpipe emission and reduce driver costs, with the U.S. EPA estimating that cluster development reduces vehicle miles traveled (VMT) by up to 58 percent. -- Wyoming Tribune-Eagle 8/2/2008
Resource(s): www.wyomingnews.com/
Park Meeting Focuses on Transportation Alternatives for Yellowstone
A week after Grand Teton National Park broke ground for its first non-motorized pathway, the Yellowstone Business Partnership (YBP) symbolized its efforts to reduce the region's car use and promote transportation alternatives by providing free round trips on buses for local and out-of-state attendees at its annual conference in the park's Jackson Lake Lodge, writes Wyoming Business Report editor MJ Clark, with the keynote speaker, British Columbia-based Victoria Transport Policy Institute Executive Director Todd Litman, telling the audience that public transit is no longer a solution just for cities.
Government studies show that per-capita vehicle miles traveled (VMT) topped out in 2000 and may even be in decline given the aging population and rising fuel costs, with people without cars, children, the elderly and the disabled relying on transit wherever it's available.
''Previous planning valued mobility over place. There is a switch going on from simply planning more roads and parking to using what we've got better,'' he said, noting that in Victoria he has a school, grocery and pub in a short walking distance and knows tourists are pleased with the museum and the botanical garden, but mostly with just walking around.
''It doesn't show up on any accounts,'' he observed, ''but walking is what drives the tourist industry.''
And since YBP officials have received a few hostile calls, arguing that any consideration of mobility options is ''anti-car,'' the editor adds, the Canadian guest pointed out that alternative transportation ''is no more anti-car than a healthy diet is anti-food.'' -- Wyoming Business Report 5/30/2008
Resource(s): www.wyomingbusinessreport.com/
Cheyenne Officials Ready to Create Unified Development Code
Heartened by three years of community work on 2006 PlanChayenne and further encouraged by Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal at his ''Building the Wyoming We Want'' conference last January, Cheyenne officials have now moved to update and integrate their three main development documents -- on zoning, roads, and subdivisions -- into a unified development code, helped by a weeklong design charrette April 21-25.
Considering the unified code crucial for implementation of the PlanChayenne, recognized by the American Planning Association (APA) with its prestigious Daniel Burhham Award last year, says the Wyoming Business Report, officials want to make it clear and logical.
They also want it to streamline the approval process, which will minimize developers' risk and uncertainty, and to include new zoning categories, which will ensure greater project flexibility and density options.
With the Wyoming Center for Business and Economic Analysis finding that Cheyenne has gained more than 3,000 homes since 2000 and 1,250 in the past year, a much higher growth rate than in recent history, the business magazine notes, current city steps to implement the public planning vision show that ''Cheyenne is taking the lead in progressively directing growth for the benefit of future generations.'' -- Wyoming Business ReportState of Wyoming 4/18/2008
Resource(s): www.wyomingbusinessreport.com/enews.asp ; www.wyomingbusiness.org/
Teton County Commissioners Postpone Vote on Emergency Building Moratorium
As work continues on the Jackson-Teton County Comprehensive Plan updates, one recent development proposal in the pipeline and two more submitted last month could put together 1,114 more homes in the South Park area of Jackson, and many residents hoped the County Board of Commissioners would pass an emergency moratorium on subdivisions or zoning changes for larger than 20-acre tracts at its latest meetings, but commissioners voted 4-1 to wait until April 24 for more input from county planners and the public.
Dissenting Commissioner Bill Paddleford didn't want any moratorium, convinced it would only worsen the shortage of affordable housing for the work force, reports Jackson Hole News & Guide writer Cara Froedge.
''We need to step up to the plate and make a decision on our own, case by case, as opposed to dealing with this by having a moratorium,'' he said, a view shared by some in the audience, including attorneys for the three controversial projects -- Teton Meadows, with 400 of its 500 homes on 288 acres promised as affordable, and two under a complicated deal between a Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch developer, who seeks rezoning of 80 acres for 299 dwellings, and Three Ranchers LLC, which is offering 125 of the proposed 315 units as affordable, plus 588 acres as open space.
''It's a political conundrum,'' opined Teton Meadows attorney Robbin Levy. ''The commissioners feel that their constituency is about evenly split (on the project), so they will lose support of half no matter what they do. I think they see the moratorium as a way not to decide and preserve that political capital.''
Reminding commissioners that most of them ''run on the affordable housing platform,'' she cautioned that a moratorium will doom the project since the developer would have to spend much more to buy the land after the current purchase option expires.
Three Ranchers attorney Tom Larson also wrote that his clients would likely drop their proposal with the badly needed affordable housing, while local economist Peter Stewart noted that the area now has only four homes for sale under $1 million but 170 listed for more.
The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, which asked the commissioners earlier to pass a temporary moratorium as soon as possible, the writer reports, suggested they should also remedy the lack of workforce housing and further increase the recently set requirement for 25 percent of affordable units in each new project.
''By increasing the percentage of affordable housing required in all new developments to at least 40 percent in the interim, and higher in the future,'' said Alliance Executive Director Franz Camenzind in a statement, ''our community can put its money where its mouth is -- without destroying those qualities our community values the most, such as wildlife, open space and smart growth.'' -- Jackson Hole News & Guide 3/31/2008
Resource(s): www.jhnewsandguide.com/
''Building the Wyoming We Want'' Conference Focuses on State's Resources, Planning Needs
''We have a development pattern of off-loading development cost onto the public,'' said Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal at Casper Community College, opening a two-day ''Building the Wyoming We Want'' conference on the state's residential influx, water resources, and planning needs, a statewide visioning event helped by the Washington-based Governors' Institute on Community Design under former Maryland Democratic Governor Parris N. Glendening and former New Jersey Republican Governor and U.S. EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman.
Alarmed by the impact of rapid growth, especially in rural areas where sprawl threatens scenic vistas and wildlife, taxpayers shoulder unplanned service costs and county commissioners face problems ''they haven't learned how to deal with,'' Governor Freudenthal asked the 500 participants to identify the state's opportunities and options for the future, stressing, ''In 2030, I want to look at our kids and say we did it right.''
Among the top problems addressed by the conferees, reports Casper Star-Tribune writer Tom Morton, was one stemming from a 1975 state law that lets ranchers set aside parcels of more than 35 acres to help their children start their own operations.
Exempting such parcels from county oversight, the law enabled ranchers and subsequently developers to create subdivisions without county permits that require sufficient infrastructure, a loophole that lawmakers may close this year.
As an example of ''the division of working ranches into ranchettes,'' Tucson, Arizona-based Sonoran Institute Executive Director Luther Propst spotlighted the historic 41,900-acre B.B. Brooks ranch north of Casper, bought together with three others near Laramie and Cheyenne by Scottsdale, Arizona-based Brooks Realty and Advisory Group and subdivided into roughly 40-acre lots selling for $1,000 to $2,400 an acre.
Such projects don't pay for all related services and potential problems of rural living, said Director Propst, calling it ''a business model that externalizes significant costs to the taxpayers of the county and the state.''
That includes the costs of water systems in rural developments, on which the state spent $100 million in the past 10 years, with Wyoming Water Development Commission Director Mike Purcell saying residential development in the countryside is increasing and water levels are going down.
''We're starting to wonder whether, by bailing out rural subdivisions, are we part of the problem?'' he asked. ''Is it OK for first investors to get by with paying less, because sooner or later, the state will rescue you?''
To avert worse problems, reports Star-Tribune correspondent Brodie Farquhar, Director Purcell thought the state could require developers to install water systems up front, lay pipes big enough for long-term development, protect home buyers with scientific and legally-binding assurances of water sufficiency for up to 100 years, and cluster development or make it concentric to minimize line extension costs.
Although various past efforts to manage its growth backfired, due to its ''free-market orientation,'' Wyoming can make a break by involving the public in the planning process, said Envision Utah founder Robert Grow, telling conferees how his public-private nonprofit brought together thousands of stakeholders across political and other divides to determine Utah's course.
They all found common interests, reports Wyoming Tribune-Eagle writer Bill McCarthy, in community safety, financial security, educational opportunities, open space, wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation.
The result is ''a big, big change'' in attitudes, and people previously reluctant moved to support transit and voted to tax themselves for light rail, the Utah guest said, stressing, ''Nobody 10 years ago would have believed this.''
Wyoming attendees were encouraged.
''I think we are all going to see something like that Envision Utah coming out of this meeting,'' said one of the theme-group facilitators, Sara Flitner of Jackson. ''Wyoming is ready for the vision.'' -- Star-Tribune, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle 1/11/2008
Resource(s): www.casperstartribune.net/ ; www.wyomingbusinessreport.com/
''Greed and Money'' Drive Development in Southeast Wyoming's Open Spaces
The windswept plains east of Laramie Mountains may epitomize clean air and freedom, but life out there is neither romantic nor easy, reports Wyoming Eagle-Tribune writer Shauna Stephenson from the 53,000-acre Y Cross Ranch, some 30 miles west of Cheyenne, quoting rancher and now Y Cross manager Manny Monserrate, who says newcomers on 40-acre lots that multiply along a former dirt road nearby ''want the view'' but ''don't know the reality'' and even if some houses become empty other real estate road-signs appear, because ''(i)t's all about greed and money.''
Donated by owner Amy Davis to the University of Wyoming and Colorado State University in the late 1990s, and now under a Nature Conservancy conservation easement, the Y Cross Ranch is protected from development in perpetuity.
''I chose to do it because I thought should the ranch ever be sold to a developer, he would carve it up into ranchettes,'' she tells the writer. ''We have some beautiful land out there and it's not meant for ranchettes. It's a ranch and cattle should be run on it.''
With the Nature Conservancy holding 143 easements to a total of about 250,000 acres statewide, its southeast Wyoming program director Brent Lathrop calls subdivisions one of the biggest threats to the region.
''(The Conservancy) is not opposed to development. We just want to have smart growth,'' he states. ''There's a lot of folks out there who flat out don't want their ranch to be a subdivision.''
Wyoming Stock Growers Agricultural Land Trust official Glenn Pauley shares those concerns, noting that sprawling rural subdivisions of 30-acre or 40-acre lots account for about 80 percent of development throughout the state.
He supports conservation easements as a good though insufficient preservation method, saying, ''They allow work uses of the land while maintaining the natural features.''
A 2006 federal law that increased incentives for conservation easements expires this year, the writer observes, and lawmakers are working on its extension or making it permanent, a goal endorsed by President Bush.
The law helped popularize easements by raising the landowners' deduction ''from 30 percent of their income in any year to 50 percent,'' allowing eligible farmers and ranchers ''to deduct up to 100 percent of their income,'' and letting donors take tax deductions ''for voluntary conservation agreements for 15 years instead of five.''
Nature Conservancy specialist Randy Craft, who spends much of his summer visiting the preserved tracts to keep easement records, says he quite often has to help landowners review and abide by agreement details without creating an impression of ''the eco-police.''
Adding, ''More and more people want to come out here and have their own slice of heaven,'' he stresses, ''If you really love the country, live in town.'' -- Wyoming Eagle-Tribune 12/12/2007
Resource(s): www.wyomingnews.com
Cheyenne Creating Recreational Master Plan for 18,800 Acres of ''Wyoming History''
Having bought the 17,000-acre cattle and horse Belvoir Ranch just southwest of Cheyenne's city limits for $5.9 million in 2003 and the adjacent 1,800-acre development-restricted Big Hole property for $525,000 in 2005, city officials, business leaders, consultants and residents are now in the middle of work on a master plan for those culturally and environmentally multi-faceted lands -- the ranch now leased out for grazing, but slated mostly for diversified recreational use in the future, reports Wyoming Tribune-Eagle writer Jodi Rogstad, with wind turbines perhaps paying for the envisioned hiking, biking and equestrian trails, campgrounds, reservoirs and other amenities.
''This is a huge project,'' said City Councilman Tom Segrave about the transformation planning process, championed by Mayor Jack Spiker, hopeful for expert aid from State Parks and Historic Sites staff since he doesn't know ''anyone else who has done this as a small community.''
So far, the writer notes, Denver-based Wenk Associates consultants Jane Kulik and David Madison have outlined a five-year plan and a 15-year plan.
In the first five years, the city would build trails and a road, with parking, to the Big Hole, expected to become a ''regional magnet'' for residents and tourists.
It would also lay equestrian and mountain biking trails, with a mountain bike jump park, on the Belvoir Ranch, install wildlife spotting scopes, and host special events.
Under the 15-year plan, the city would launch construction of a visitor gateway center, with a gas station, convenience store and some outdoor retail, also building one or two reservoirs for recreation and a links golf course, which follows the natural terrain, doesn't need the usual closely-trimmed grass, and could be self-sufficient within eight or ten years. Read more at www.belvoirranch.org-- Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, Wyoming Business Report 9/27/2007
Resource(s): http://wyomingbusinessreport.com/ ; www.wyomingnews.com/
Officials Say State Law Restrictions Hinder Land Management Changes in Casper, Natrona County
Casper and Natrona County would make many policy and land management changes but are ''restricted'' by state laws,'' noted City Manager Tom Forslund and Police Chief Tom Pagel at a meeting of council members, county commissioners and several state lawmakers ahead of the new legislative session next month, reports Casper Star-Tribune writer John Morgan, mentioning the city's need to slow down traffic, build a residential drug treatment center, and use its parkland for schools.
''Current law does not allow cities to vacate parkland once it has been used as a park for 10 years,'' explained Manager Forslund. ''New standards for school construction require a certain amount of acreage for parking. In areas where a school is located in a residential neighborhood, there is no room for a school to grow.''
Consequently, these schools may be forced out to the fringes, with the city facing higher infrastructure and service extension costs.
The city, he told lawmakers, could save Park Elementary School from relocation and avoid related expenses if it could use a nearby park for its expansion. -- Star-Tribune 12/14/2006
Resource(s): www.casperstartribune.net/
PlanCheyenne Wins Third Approval; Features Long-Term Development Guidelines Covering Transportation, Parks
Seen by many as a smart growth blueprint, the 750-page PlanCheyenne, endorsed by the Cheyenne-Laramie County Regional Planning Commission in August and the Laramie County Commission earlier this month, now has the third necessary approval, with the Cheyenne City Council voting 6-3 to adopt the document, which sets out long-term development planning guidelines, covering transportation and parks.
Expected to prevent sprawl and cookie-cutter development, reports Wyoming Tribune-Eagle writer Jodi Rogstad, the plan requires residential builders to include commercial and park space in their projects, which will ensure more pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods and ease traffic congestion.
Nevertheless, some questioned what else the plan might bring about. During the council's meeting, the writer notes, recycling business owner Mark Shubert asked how its provisions would affect his plan for a vehicle shredder, with the area across the street being pegged for residential development.
''I don't want to be harassed by a bunch of Californians,'' he stated his position, ''because (my business) doesn't go along with their lifestyle.''
City attorney Mike Basom thought the fear unwarranted, pointing out that the recycling business doesn't antagonize current residents and that potential builders would notice its character.
Casting one of the three votes against the plan, Councilman Tom Segrave, who wanted to delay the vote for 60 days to have more time for its review, criticized it for mixed-use requirements and little attention to affordable housing. The city's housing, he argued, won't become more affordable if residential developers must add commercial space, observe higher design standards, and provide small parks, with residents having to pay for their maintenance.
Councilman Patrick Collins agreed housing prices may go slightly up, but stressed that these requirements originated with the community, with those residents who took care to participate in the planning process. -- Wyoming Tribune-Eagle 11/14/2006
Jackson Hole Town Council Candidates Discuss Growth Options as Development Pressure Builds in Resort Community
All four candidates for the two open seats on the five-member Jackson Hole Town Council backed long-term planning and START bus service expansion in a pre-election interview with Planet magazine writer Brigid Mander, but Paul Vogelheim and Bob Lenz feared four-story-tall buildings would destroy the local character, while Steve Harrington and Melissa Turley opposed exclusion of any smart-growth principles, with the latter urging the use of ''research and tools being created by organizations such as the Smart Growth Network, the Sonoran Institute (Tucson, Arizona), and the U.S. Green Building Council.''
Alarmed by ''tremendous'' development pressure and the threat of real estate speculation, Paul Vogelheim said the town can learn from other resorts about ''what we don't want to have happen in our community, like commercial build-up and density in Vail or Breckenridge, Colorado.''
Bob Lenz agreed. ''People do not come to Jackson to see a miniature Atlanta, or Old Town Idaho Falls,'' he argued. ''Our narrow streets preclude tall buildings and the problems they create. I envision a pedestrian-friendly environment with adequate setbacks and landscaping.''
The other two council candidates stressed the need to be more proactive. Proud of his smart growth work over the past four years, when he preserved Karn's Meadow ''while helping to place 102 affordable homes and 74 employee homes in Jackson,'' Steve Harrington pointed out that smart growth calls for infill, mixed uses, taller buildings and density ''in areas where the infrastructure is already in place,'' which saves open land and boosts transit use.
''Since the end of World War II land use planning has revolved around the automobile,'' he reasoned. ''Can our planet, 60 years later, afford more of the same? I say NO! Smart Growth is about energy efficiency, land conservation and resource protection. All three are independent and should be at the heart of our planning process.''
Melissa Turley echoed the sentiment. Glad that officials have dealt with affordability issues early enough to house 70 percent of its workforce in town, she thought they should look to two tools as especially useful for their future land use decisions. One is ''a new LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Neighborhood Development green building rating system that encourages revitalizing existing urban areas, reducing land consumption, and building more livable, sustainable and enduring communities,'' she said. The other is ''a new initiative for Smart Growth in Wyoming that the Sonoran Institute is encouraging, based on the successes of 15 years of work done by the Montana Smart Growth Coalition.'' -- Planet 10/26/2006
Resource(s): www.planetjh.com/
Smart Growth Assistance Program Helps Cheyenne Modify Long-Range Plan for Optimum Development of Empty Tract
Selected by the U.S. EPA Community, Development and Environment Division (CDED) for the agency's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance Program, Cheyenne learned several ways its long-range PlanCheyenne could be refined for the most advantageous development of a 500-acre empty tract some two miles north of the city's center, with Denver-based Van Meter Williams Pollack urban planning firm principal Tim Van Meter saying one of his smart growth tests is whether a four-year child can easily tricycle to a neighborhood park.
Presented by a team of national consultants and city planners at a final session of three days of educational workshops, reports Wyoming Tribune-Eagle writer Michelle Dynes, the tract development variants would help Cheyenne avoid urban sprawl and expand housing choices, while letting households spend less on transportation. Their common element was a Main Street-like entrance to encourage people do without cars and use sidewalks, flanked by small stores, eateries and coffee shops, with offices above, and a dense mix of adjacent town houses and apartments fanning out into single-family homes.
Some duplexes or a senior apartment complex could be added later, consultant Van Meter observed, saying a grid of small streets would entice walking ''instead of driving a quarter of a mile out of the way to turn right.''
Although Cheyenne may not need to develop the 500 acres all at once but rather in phases, the demand for this type development is obvious, said Strategiceconomics principal Dena Belzer, pointing out that its town houses are selling for about the same prices as single-family homes. -- Wyoming Tribune-Eagle 5/1/2006
Resource(s): www.wyomingnews.com
Conference Keynote Speaker Tregoning Encourages Wyoming Leaders to Work With Residents and Guide Development, Enhance Quality of Life
As in the nation as a whole, Wyoming's land consumption rate exceeds its population growth, the energy sector prospers while others struggle, and wide-open tracts are often sold to outsiders for second homes, reports Wyoming Tribune-Eagle writer Jessica Lowell from a winter conference of the Wyoming Economic Development Association and the Wyoming Chamber of Commerce Executives in Cheyenne, where the keynote speaker, Washington-based Smart Growth Leadership Institute and Governors' Institute on Community Design director Harriet Tregoning asked attendees to visualize the state's look in 20 years, while offering them a solid hour-plus ''crash course'' on smart growth.
The key question is whether communities will guide or react to development, director Tregoning said, pointing out that the institutes are helping communities diversify employment, expand the tax base, create more housing and transportation choices, build healthier neighborhoods and enhance quality of life.
All this can be achieved through better use of already developed land and compact design of new projects, she stressed, and without the downside of sprawl -- traffic congestion, car dependency, farmland and open space loss, overcrowded schools, and higher taxes for new services and ever-larger rings of infrastructure.
The following panel discussion, the writer reports, focused on conflicts between longtime residents and newcomers, the lack of governmental coordination, and the need for the right zoning to spur economic development.
Worried that 80 percent of development goes to rural areas, Laramie County Commissioner Jack Knudson said that last year about 12,000 county acres were sold in 35-acre lots -- which is outside any county review -- sometimes over the Internet, unseen by the buyers, and sometimes with no access, utilities or services.
Understanding that ranchers increasingly look to sell for their retirement, often to companies that divide and resell the land, director Tregoning encouraged area leaders to preempt such ''wildcat'' development by involving residents in a visioning process and offering them incentives for conserving the land, pursuing quality development on their own or trying other community-oriented solutions. -- Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
2/15/2006
Resource(s): www.wyomingnews.com
Cheyenne Celebrates Award of US-EPA's Technical Aid for Smart Growth
Excited that the U.S. EPA included Cheyenne among the first five municipalities to benefit from private consultant technical expertise under the agency's Smart Growth Implementation Assistance program, Cheyenne Mayor Jack Spiker told reporters, ''If we had to go out and buy this, it would cost us several tens of thousands of dollars, and we're getting it free.''
On the grantor end, EPA's Smart Growth Program Acting Director Tim Torma credited Cheyenne's selection for assistance from the prestigious Virginia-based ICF Consulting firm both to the mayor's letter in support of the city application and to its advanced work on the Vision 2020 and PlanCheyenne blueprints.
''A lot of communities (just) asked, 'Help us grow better,' but that's not what we were looking for,'' he told Wyoming Tribune-Eagle writer Jennifer Frazer, pointing out that the city clearly understands the type of growth the EPA wants to encourage.
The EPA-commissioned consultants will analyze various Vision 2020 and PlanCheyenne ideas, including a ''pocket neighborhood'' recommendation, to determine means of implementation through current city codes and ordinances, the writer reports, noting that pocket neighborhoods, proposed by a PlanCheyenne committee member, would feature various types of housing, walkable streets, parks, retail and employment areas, and very likely diversified building design.
''This community wants to see more of those amenities,'' said Mayor Spiker. ''There's a way to do that through code, and that's where I think technical expertise will really help.''
Metropolitan Planning Organization land-use planner Matt Ashby added, ''We often hear the phrase 'Time is money,' so we're going to look for ways to reduce the time it takes for superior projects to get approved.'' -- Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
7/8/2005
Resource(s): www.wyomingnews.com/
Despite Endorsements for Teton Village Mixed-Use Expansion Plan, County Commissioners Reject Latest Offering
After two years of hot public debate and quiet negotiations over a Teton Village mixed-use expansion plan, the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance welcomed Snake River Associates' (SRA) adjustments -- an increase of open from 1,116 to 1,302 acres, a reduction of the clustered housing on 510 acres from 477 to 450 units, and conservation easements for adjacent land -- as meeting ''minimum standards of 'smart growth','' but the five-member Teton County Board of Commissioners split along party lines against the project, with three ''no'' votes cast by Republicans Leland Christensen, Jim Darwiche and Larry Jorgenson.
Democrats Mike Gierau and Andy Schwartz voted ''yes,'' agreeing with environmentalists and planning commissioners that the changes bring the resort expansion plan in line with principles of smart growth and the guidelines of the county's comprehensive plan. All together, the project would include 81,000 square feet of commercial space, parks, walking paths, skier parking, an 18-hole golf course and other facilities, with 186 of the planned housing units affordable for lower-income residents and resort employees.
Before the latest series of hearings, the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance's Community Planning Director Christine Walker wrote in a Planet Jackson Hole guest opinion that compared to the alternatives, the SRA proposal ''creates a good balance between the rights of the community and the rights of private property owners.''
After the vote, a project opponent from the Committee to Save Historic Jackson Hole, fourth-generation resident Darrel Hoffman, said the group knows growth must happen, but wants to see ''serious open space,'' not another golf course.
But resort vice president Jack Lewis blasted the 3-2 vote against the project as a ''travesty,'' calling the three Republican naysayers ''myopic.'' He added, ''It is amazing to me to think that when the Alliance, chamber of commerce, every review board in this community, both town and county, could come to the same conclusion that this was the right thing to do, and then to have three commissioners vote the way they did, I thought was totally irresponsible.'' -- Planet Jackson Hole 5/21/2005
Resource(s): www.jhzone.com/index.cfm ; www.planetjh.com/
Cheyenne Adds ''Big Hole'' to Open Space Trails and Recreation Areas
Having earlier preserved the 17,000-acre Belvoir Ranch southwest of the city, Cheyenne officials will now expand its open-space assets down to the state line, by acquisition of the Colorado Red Mountain Ranch's 1,800-acre portion on Wyoming side, including the spectacular Big Hole -- sometimes called a miniature Grand Canyon -- which should eventually allow creation of an extensive bi-state network of prairie trails and recreation areas.
In a four-party deal, reports Wyoming Tribune-Eagle writer Kelly Milner, the ranch owner, former Colorado Rockies owner Jerry McMorris, will sell the Wyoming portion to the Nature Conservancy for future resale to Cheyenne, with Colorado's Larimer County expecting to buy its portion through an $11.5 million grant from Great Outdoors Colorado's lottery revenue and to maintain the Big Hole for Cheyenne.
Urged by Mayor Jack Spiker, Public Works Director Jackie Smith and others, the Cheyenne City Council voted 8-1 to pay the conservancy $525,000 with a fifth-of-a-cent sales tax.
Some residents and dissenting Councilman C.J. Brown preferred to use general fund reserves for the purchase. The deal, the writer notes, helps Larimer County and its city of Fort Collins protect their region from mounting development pressures, bringing them closer to the goal of saving a total of 54,000 acres at a cost of $25 million.
Larimer County open lands manager K. Lynn Cameron envisions 30 miles of trails linked to the Wyoming side, telling the writer, ''People want to protect the open spaces that we do have left.''
Glad that Cheyenne will augment the Belvoir Ranch preservation area with the adjacent portion of the Red Mountain Ranch, Nature Conservancy's Northeast Colorado program manager Greg Gamble stressed their environmental and recreational value for city residents, saying, ''This is close enough and accessible enough that we want to take advantage of it to secure it for future generations.'' -- Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
12/13/2004
Resource(s): www.wyomingnews.com/
Cheyenne Embarks on Four-Step Process to Update Comprehensive Plan
Under its Vision 2020, the Cheyenne Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) launched the PlanCheyenne land-use, transportation and recreation update process for the city's 1992 comprehensive plan, with MPO director Tom Mason saying, ''Since then, we've been going around the community neighborhood by neighborhood. Now it's time to wrap them up together.''
Begun at a public meeting with Denver-based Clarion Associates consultancy director and ''True West'' co-author Chris Duerksen as guest speaker, the 18-month coordinated planning process will include four stages, reports Wyoming Eagle-Tribune writer Ilene Olson.
In the first, SnapshotCheyenne, planners and other participants will review the city's demographic, social and economic data. In the second, StructureCheyenne, starting with a community design charrette December 9, they will study the city's architectural characteristics, neighborhood uniqueness and livability factors. In the third, ShapeCheyenne, they will consider key ingredients for the future, including the need for neighborhood and transportation improvements, economic development, public services, housing, open space and park expansion. And in the fourth, Build Cheyenne, they will identify plan implementation tools such as ordinances, legal provisions and design standards.
The new plan or its key segments will be further updated every five years, says director Mason, adding, ''We hope that by wrapping this up together, it will be an easier process in the future.'' -- Wyoming Eagle-Tribune
11/15/2004
Resource(s): www.wyomingnews.com/
Jackson Mayor Unhappy With Petition to Force Referendum on Downtown Redevelopment Plan
Even though the Jackson Town Council passed its smart-growth
downtown redevelopment plan after numerous public hearings and
mostly positive feedback, residents who shunned planning collected
373 valid petition signatures -- four over the ten-percent minimum
of the town's registered voters -- to force a plan referendum later
this fall, with clearly indignant Mayor Mark Barron saying, ''There
are those in this community hiding behind whatever agenda who want
no growth and no change; and if they choose to run a petition to
recall an entire public process, that's their right.'' The contested
plan, described by council members as aimed at greater downtown
density to stem outside sprawl and traffic, reports the Associated
Press in the Casper Star-Tribune, would allow developers to
increase building heights from 35 to 46 feet. Some critics feel
this warrants a requirement to increase the share of affordable
housing, while others worry about the redevelopment impact on the
Town Square and Jackson's small Western town character. The writer
notes that Mayor Barron won last year on a smart-growth platform
that included downtown redevelopment, partly in response to an
earlier voter rebuff of the proposed annexation of the Jackson Hole
Hereford Ranch and its development plan. -- Casper
Star-Tribune
9/28/2003
Resource(s): www.casperstartribune.net/
Jackson Town Council Approves Mixed-Use Downtown Redevelopment District; Affordable Housing Amendment Likely
In line with voter rejection of a proposal to develop some 800
acres of ranch land south of Jackson two years ago, the Town
Council decided to spur growth inside, by unanimous approval of the
Downtown Redevelopment District (DRD), whose zoning will allow
mixed residential-commercial use and a maximum building height
raised from 36 to 46 feet, with Mayor Mark Barron saying, ''Smart
growth is about zoning for it,'' to let the downtown area ''reach its
potential.'' But civic activists pointed out that the DRD ordinance,
expected to become final after two more public hearings, needs to
ensure construction of affordable housing, reports Casper
Star-Tribune correspondent Whitney Royster. Jackson Hole
Community Housing Trust official Anne Hayden said the DRD ''relies
on the market economy to provide market housing,'' with guarantees
neither for a mix of uses nor affordable housing. ''Letting the
market take care of it hasn't created any affordable housing in the
community,'' she stressed, calling for developer incentives to meet
the demand. Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance representative
Margie Lynch said the current ''fee in lieu'' of parking, for
developers who can't meet parking space requirements, could be
based a sliding scale to make them more interested in affordable
housing -- short-term rental units would be charged the highest
fee, affordable units would be charged zero. Councilors promised to
refine the ordinance and are likely to add affordable housing
incentives in the coming weeks. -- Star-Tribune
7/23/2003
Resource(s): www.casperstartribune.net/
Land Dealers, Ranchers Unhappy With Minimum Lot Size Requirements in Wyoming's Carbon County
Facing the outflow of youth and the influx of retirees lured by the
great outdoors and no state income tax, Carbon County officials
hope to preempt sprawl in the county's predominant open range zone
through a square-mile (640-acre) lot minimum enacted in January.
All smaller lot zoning changes for residential or recreational use
now depend on the Planning Commission, which will grant them only
if the site allows emergency vehicle and school bus access, and the
prospective house doesn't obstruct the view or otherwise diminish
the value of adjacent ranch land. Despite these restrictions,
reports Associated Press writer Mead Gruver in The Casper Star-
Tribune, e-Bay advertisers are still offering buyers unique
vistas, wildlife and 40-to-160-acre lots, many of them back on the
market due to a 25 percent repossession rate, with county planning
director Jay Grabow warning future buyers, ''People got what they
paid for. They got a 40-acre piece of open range land. But that
open range zone didn't have any residential development rights to
it.'' With the current square-mile minimum lot likely to cost
$500,000 plus, the writer finds land dealers and many ranchers
angry. Coyote Spring Land Co. owner Doug Caffey of Costa Mesa,
California, instrumental in recreational land deals throughout
Wyoming, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Nevada and Oregon, asks where
are his constitutional rights in Carbon County -- the nation's only
one ''where they say there is no use of land less than 640 acres in
size'' -- and predicts a lawsuit. Carbon County Farm Bureau
president, rancher G. G. Kortes, argues, ''Property rights need to
be protected. And the way this is going, we will have no property
rights. The county will be dictating to us everything we can do
with every stitch of our property.'' County Planning Commissioner
Sonja Collamer understands these concerns, but pointing to the
county's 1972 land use plan and zoning regulations, says, ''The
question is whether we want to do what is in our land use plan,
which is preserve open space and encourage responsible
development.'' -- The Casper Star-Tribune
4/9/2003
Resource(s): www.casperstartribune.net/
Gov. Freudenthal Cites Need for Long-Term Public Land Strategy in Wyoming
One of the key common issues for Wyoming and the federal government
is access to public land, said Democratic Governor Dave Freudenthal
at a recreation summit in Casper, calling recreation vital to the
state's quality of life and urging officials from state parks, the
Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service and the National Park
Service to cooperate and involve the public in work on a long-term
Wyoming strategy, which would survive power shifts in Washington,
D.C., where one administration may want ''to put all its emphasis on
energy development'' and another to turn the West into ''a Buffalo
Commons.'' Not sure he believes ''in win-win solutions'' but certain
that some ''are win and-not-much-harm,'' the governor stressed the
need for such an approach to motorized recreation on public land.
Declaring himself a fan of four-wheel driving and snowmobiling,
reports Casper Star-Tribune writer Brodie Farquhar, the
governor cited his prosecution of those four-wheelers who tore up
stream banks or wetlands, saying ''the trick is to cultivate an
ethic that is compatible with the environment.'' Although he
suggested greater separation of motorized and other recreation
zones to minimize land management clashes, the governor noted this
also wouldn't be foolproof since some people buy a cabin on the
edge of a national forest and do anything they want right on their
doorsteps, regardless of the surroundings and zoning. -- Casper
Star-Tribune
4/8/2003
Resource(s): www.casperstartribune.net/
Jackson Approves City's First Subsidized Rental Apartments
In a move to help the poor in the Jackson area, notorious for high
housing costs, the Jackson Town Council unanimously approved its
first subsidized rental unit project, whose 24 one-to-three bedroom
apartments for residents earning 40-60 percent Teton County's
median income will cost between $407 and $907 a month. As the
council relieved the Idaho-based Pacific Communities of a
requirement to include a Southern Teton Area Rapid Transit (START)
bus stop nearby, because Councilman Scott Anderson felt it unwise
''to impose this condition on developers who are trying to build an
affordable housing project,'' town planner Tyler Sinclair said START
will build the bus stop. Some local residents thought the project
too dense for the 1.7-acre site and questioned the involvement of
a private builder, but Teton County Housing Authority executive
director Forrest Neuerberg said that what's the community had
suggested and Mayor Mark Barron noted that private sector
participation often makes such city projects less costly.
3/10/2003
Resource(s): www.insidedenver.com/drmn/state/
Infrastructure Costs Hinder New Development in Cheyenne
Heartland Home Builders owner Jim Woods Sr. has always imagined his
630-acre Village West about three miles off Cheyenne limits as a
city project, but discouraged by the sewage line extension cost, he
filed for annexation with Laramie County in late January and
refiled with the city only after officials promised to decrease the
minimum lot size in the project's first section from 15,000 to
6,000 square feet, which will increase the number of its housing
units from 120 to 265. They also promised to search for a less
expensive sewer option. Wyoming Tribune-Eagle writer Tim
Lockwood quotes Mayor Jack Spiker, who says the other developers
also face the infrastructure problem and the city must find a way
to help them all build projects ''as a part of Cheyenne.'' City
engineer Ken Lewis notes that the Village West area is one of the
remaining few identified by staff ''as a direction of positive
growth.'' The developer, who is building on ''three to five county
lots for every city lot,'' says Village West will feature homes in
a variety of styles and sizes, ''from affordable to the middle-price
range,'' along with several parks.
3/25/2002
Resource(s): www.wyomingnews.com/
Cheyenne Considers Annexations to Ensure Orderly Urban Growth
In anticipation of a major economic surge for Cheyenne, city
officials realize they should annex the few adjacent areas not yet
subdivided by Laramie County and plan infrastructure now if they
want to ensure orderly urban growth instead of having to leapfrog
over sprawling county projects later and perpetuate the same
pattern of sprawl. City Council President Joe Bonds told Wyoming
Tribune-Eagle writer Tim Lockwood that despite ''a strong
emphasis throughout the state to promote growth,'' Cheyenne leaders
want ''to make sure it is a sensible rate of growth'' and ''to find a
way that makes developers want to develop in the city.'' Mayor Jack
Spiker pointed out that the city gained 1,500 jobs last year, which
could require the same number of homes within city limits, and that
officials are ''working on ways to get sewer and water for
developers to their projects at an affordable cost.'' One official
instrumental in that work, city engineer Ken Lewis noted the
possibility of fitting ''up to 36 times more housing in a city
development than a county development'' and added, ''Viable growth
and beneficial growth in a community is managed growth. But runaway
growth is detrimental.'' Developer Ed Murray observed that different
city areas present different challenges, depending on their
infrastructure and zoning, and urged a thorough coordination of
development efforts both among city departments and among the city,
the county and regional utility districts. He also stressed the
need to keep open growth corridors through county subdivisions and
voiced his support for the city's ''participation in developing
infrastructure on a case-by-case basis after a complete feasibility
study on the merit and viability of the development.''
3/24/2002
Resource(s): www.wyomingnews.com/
Wildlife Trust Fund Proposed for Wyoming's Habitat Protection
Working with by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, state
Republican lawmaker Fred Parady will soon introduce legislation to
create a $37 million Wildlife Legacy Trust Fund that would help
protect wildlife habitat and endangered species, without increased
dependence on revenue from an outdoor gear excise tax and on
hunter, angler and other license fees. The Associated Press reports
from Cheyenne that the Legacy fund would be created by boosting the
department's current trust assets with a one-time appropriation of
$20 million from coal mining bids for federal leases. The money
would be invested and annual interest used to finance conservation.
Noting that a similar legislative proposal failed in 1983, the news
agency quotes the lawmaker, who says his bill reflects the
''dynamics of modern Wyoming.'' He stresses that sportsmen shouldn't
bear the conservation burden alone and that the state ''has a well-
established precedent for using revenue from our nonrenewable
resources to strengthen our renewable resources.'' Department policy
coordinator Walt Gasson says Wyoming faces three big conservation
challenges -- the poor state of wildlife habitat; the prospect of
expanding the list of threatened or endangered species from nine to
80 or more; and the pressure exerted on habitat by residential and
commercial growth.
1/14/2002
Resource(s): www.rockymountainnews.co/
Wyoming: Site Eyed to Ease Affordable Housing Dilemma in Teton County
With Teton County's affordable housing crisis forcing crucial service workers and other long-timers to live elsewhere or leave the valley altogether, many area residents and leaders "pleaded with us to take bold action, to take brave steps, because we cannot afford to have a community made up only of those who can afford exorbitant real estate prices," write Teton County Planning Director Bill Collins and Teton County Housing Authority Executive Director Forrest Neuerburg in a guest column at the community's New Neighborhood project web site, describing their efforts to secure a $30 million purchase of a 329-acre tract south of Jackson by March 2002 and to gain public input on its use for affordable housing. The authors point out that of the few large tracts for sale, this one is especially desirable due to the nearness of municipal sewer and water lines, and the absence of significant wetlands or other environmental constraints. Noting that land prices around the county vary, but are always rising, the authors write, "If we wait until 'sometime in the future,' land costs will only be more expensive." The New Neighborhood mission is to create "a complete neighborhood that advances the community's goal by providing a variety of housing and transportation choices for working families and individuals of diverse age and income levels." The mission involves ten principles, including commitments to reflect the county's history, character and values; to create public spaces of "linked squares, greens, parks, pathways and lanes" that provide opportunities for social interaction; to protect natural assets and "incorporate sustainable design practices" into site plans; and to create a model "for non-subsidized housing by leveraging private investment from a minimal outlay of public sector funds." 11/23/2001
Resource(s): www.newneighborhood.net
With West Virginia paying a price "for ...
With West Virginia paying a price "for some reckless decisions by state government," which has incurred a $9-million telephone bill debt and stimulated a "massive overcommittment" to costly highway projects, Governor Bob Wise (D) pledged in his first State of the State speech to be fiscally responsible, but also to move "education out of trailers and into real classrooms," take advantage of "a historical opportunity" in the energy market, complete the road program and achieve balance between the economy and the environment. The governor told lawmakers he will propose "a bond package for capital improvements in public education;" announced that his Energy Advisory Task Force will devise long-term strategies for coal, gas, electricity and other power sources; urged them to help develop those energy resources "in an environmentally appropriate way;" and asked for their authorization to issue the final $110-million road bonds under the voter-approved $440-million bond program and for the renewal of the 5-cent gas tax, which would bring in the additional $55 million "necessary to keep our road program going." Noting that tourism "has become an irreplaceable part" of West Virginia's economy, the governor earmarked budget funds to make crucial investments in state parks and promised to find the funds to "continue development of the Hatfield McCoy Trail." Then he addressed the long-standing belief "that economic growth carried the price of environmental sacrifice." In this state, he continued, we "often divided ourselves into two camps -- energy on one side, environment on the other," forgetting that "we will share the future of West Virginia together." Stressing his goal of ending "the era of divisiveness on the issue of West Virginia environment," the governor said the state can have both a clean environment and well paying jobs, and asked lawmakers to "emphasize the importance of environmental protection" by elevating the Director of the Division of Environmental Protection to the post of secretary in the Governor's Cabinet. He pledged strict enforcement of state and federal environmental laws in the mining industry and state cooperation "with all sides to have a reliable, uniform and predictable permit process." He also said the state "cannot afford" to lose natural treasures like the Blackwater Canyon and announced a forthcoming land conservation plan "that respects both the private landowner and the public interest." 2/20/2001
Resource(s): www.nga.org
Despite a nine-percent population increase to 494,000 ...
Despite a nine-percent population increase to 494,000 in the past decade, Wyoming is still "the least populated state," but it has the greatest opportunity to control growth, shape the future and save open space, said Governor Jim Geringer (R) in his State of the State speech. "Most fast growing states are challenged to find ways to preserve open space," while Wyoming "can still work to allow planned and largely voluntary efforts to maintain open space," the governor said, expressing his interest in an Agricultural Preservation Act sponsored by state Republican Representative Randal B. Luthi. He promised to support the act if it requires "county commissioners to develop county-wide land use plans before implementing the option of development rights" transfer. Although Wyoming is still "behind the curve" in the nation's economic expansion, the governor attributed its "current momentum" to strong energy prices and "the extraordinary demand for natural gas," with "exploration, drilling, production facilities and pipelines ... boosting employment and income;" and to federal aid increases, especially for highways, which have boosted road construction and other state projects. Noting that 58 percent of national energy production comes from coal, while 98 percent of plants under construction will use natural gas, the governor pointed to Wyoming's strong position in both resource areas and asked lawmakers to help create "a joint executive/legislative planning group" that would determine what the state might do in partnership with other states and the industry to encourage power plant construction and transmission of Wyoming energy, while ensuring "maximum protection of our clean air and research into clean coal technology." He stressed that the governors of South Dakota, Utah and Michigan are willing to work with Wyoming "to ease the energy crisis not only in the West," but in other regions, too. Turning to Wyoming agricultural and natural resource management issues, the governor expressed his concern over the vast land acreage "placed off -limits by the Clinton administration." Calling that administration's last environmental executive orders and rules "ill-conceived," the governor warned that President Bush's "statutory limitations" may impede reversal of the "bulk" of them. He also emphasized that the President "will give much more credit to the people of Wyoming on resource management, social service delivery and economic development." 2/20/2001
Resource(s): www.nga.org
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