Street sports a defiant message of refusal to sell the property to the University
of Wyoming for its expansion.
Lewis Street has been deemed to become a complete pedestrian and biking corridor with minimal transit in the foreseeable future. The University of Wyoming’s Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) includes planning and design principles that will impact the future of layout of the extending campus. The fourth principle applies directly to what Lewis Street is slated to become. This principle reads: “Develop a walkable, bikeable, and transit-oriented campus.
“This will be a very phased approach,” said Associate Vice President for Administrative Affairs Mark Collins.
The LRDP states that “safe and efficient routes for walking and biking” is one of the main goals within its principles.
“Safety is our biggest concern,” said Collins. “It will be modeled after Prexy’s a little bit.”
Collins noted that Prexy’s Pasture was not always a walking corridor and was once open to public traffic. Now that it is a walking mall, it is much safer and gives the campus a certain aesthetic, said Collins.
“It is one of the signatures of the campus that the consultants noticed when they came to work on the Long Range Development Plan,” said Collins. “It is so symbolic that they wanted to include ‘mini-Prexy Pastures’ across the campus.”
Before landscaping and the development begins on Lewis Street to form the Prexy-like pedestrian corridor, there has to be a willingness by the landowners to sell their property to the university.
Collins said that UW is inviting the conversation and letters were sent out a short time ago.
“We communicate with them,” said Collins. “And we respect if they are not wanting to sell.”
Collins said that there are still 6 privately owned plots along Lewis Street that the university boarders. This is what will make it a very phased process, said Collins.
“(UW) is still slowly acquiring land between Ivinson and Grand,” said Community Development Director Randy Hunt. He predicts that the selling and buying of land on the North side of Lewis will be similar to the situation between Ivinson and Grand.
“The people on the other side hold the cards, they don’t have to sell,” said Hunt.
Director of Governmental Affairs Mike Massie addressed this issue as he met with the City Council Tuesday. Massie said that it makes no sense to build a walking mall just yet.
“It does not make sense to put in a mall in which we are not going to let the property owners drive on,” said Massie. “That kind of vacation may be further away, but in the next few years the mall will eventually develop.”
Massie said at the council meeting that LRDP discussions on the Lewis Street corridor have been ongoing for the past couple years and there is a meeting being held today to discuss it more. The meeting will include both University of Wyoming and City of Laramie administrators.
“We will talk about infrastructure and where we are,” said Collins.
Collins said that as UW advances in its LRDP they have to meet with the City Planning Commission and the Council.
“It is a process,” said Collins.
As UW extends its boarders, green spaces will develop and well-defined and attractive campus edges and gateways will form according to the principles of the LRDP.
Lewis Street will eventually become a strict pedestrian and bike area as UW extends its layout. The blocks that have been closed will continue to be closed in agreement with the city, said Massie.
Any street that UW will do construction on will become property of UW in trade-off that expansion of the university will bring more money to the City of Laramie, said Hunt.
“It is highly unlikely that Lewis Street will be re-opened to traffic,” said Massie. “We don’t envision parts that have been blocked off to re-open back into street.”
