Moorcroft's new master plan

A couple months ago, Moorcroft's town council hired Ben Levenger of DownTown Redevelopement and fellow Mike Hansen of Rural Community Consultants to conduct an up to date Master Plan of the town and the Moorcroft Town Center (MTC). A current Master Plan is required by law for each municipality in Wyoming.

This two part investigation, aided by civic participation, culminated in a comprehensive and current plan for the potential growth of Moorcroft and a separate realistic prognosis with options for the MTC.

Approximately 30 local residents attended the public meeting at the MTC library last Thursday evening to listen to and discuss these findings.

Community

Addressing first the long term survival of Moorcroft as a thriving community, Hansen spoke to the decline in Moorcroft's population over the past decade; a 6.52% drop just since 2018, according to the US Census bureau. Though some commercial growth has been noted over the last couple of years, there is still a steady exodus.

In an effort to curtail this decline, council has begun working to make the town more visually attractive with better written, enforceable and enforced ordinances for streets and yards as well as actively cleaning up the derelict buildings within the commercial area of Big Horn Avenue.

In addition to this start on the road to bringing Moorcroft back to a healthy vibrant municipality, the plan advises creating recognizable intended land use designations that can be zoned in the future to ensure residents and businesses follow said town design.

Zoning of residential blocks is also suggested "to protect residential areas from inappropriate or detrimental non-residential encroachment", according to the plan.

Hansen recognized the individuality of Moorcroft residents and the continual "tug of war" the council faces: "How much do you want the community to be involved in enforcing rules and how much should you let individual property owners govern themselves. When you talk about rights, whose rights are you talking about, mine or my neighbor's?"

Also, of course, infrastructure is an ongoing issue, he noted, saying, "[It] is aging and you need to be saving for that; be prepared to repair and replace."

Finally, Hansen shared with the audience his top three recommendations for consideration: on the economy, to, "Decide a more specific economic plan;" on sidewalks, "They could be redone to be more ADA compliant and sidewalks should not have stairs in them;" and on alleyways, "They are not all created or maintained equally, get a good consistent policy in place for what you want to do with those alleyways."

Housing was the last issue brought forth: "You need to find a way to get the housing market where the people are at. Find ways for homeowners to improve what they have already and for the market to develop housing that's in demand."

These points were only part of plan and those interested in further examination are invited to drop by town hall. This plan has not been officially adopted by the council as yet.

Moorcroft's council held the opinions of residents regarding their concerns and ideas as a high priority in this endeavor. Levenger and Hansen conducted a public survey through input meetings as well as online questionnaires and cell phone interviews. There were 58 responses from Moorcroft citizens.

MTC

Hansen relinquished the floor to Levenger as discussion moved on to the MTC. As was previously reported, the council faces difficult decisions regarding keeping any, part or all of the building with the realization of the expense involved in keeping the structure and bringing the many outdated components up to code.

These components include electrical and plumbing workings; adjusting bathrooms, doorways and differences in elevations throughout the halls to make them ADA compatible; the roof and all subsequent findings beneath the membrane; replacing the HVAC systems; and more.

Levenger assured people Thursday night, "The building is structurally sound, it's just a matter of the cost of rehabilitating it at this point."

The final numbers Levenger shared for a comprehensive rehabilitation of the entire building were approximately $2.5 million.

"Likely, it would be more than that; as soon as you peel off that roof, you're going to find something else," he said. He explained the financial limitations of the municipality, saying, "There is going to have to be some kind of referendum or tax increase."

Partial rehabilitation for the south side, from the gymnasium through the library, cafeteria, senior units and to the end of that corridor, would be $1.7 million.

"At the end of the day, preserving it is probably a critical element for the community, but it's going to come down to how much people are willing to spend," he said. The benefit would be the selling of the north side of the land for "the betterment of the community".

Full demolition of building and reuse of the land is the least expensive option with a current price tag of $850,000, and, "This is the one that has the most grants available." Upon being informed of the Moorcroft landfill capacity issue, Levenger admitted the cost would rise due to the necessity of trucking debris to another facility.

He had previously told the council that he had reached out to the Wyoming Business Council for possible grants to assist the town in choosing a direction and assured Claar that he would let the town know if any are available.

"Their grant list is significantly longer than what we can provide and they can partner on a federal grant [or] on a state grant; they can do what you can't do," he said.

There were several questions regarding his findings and options from members of the audience, which he answered, alluding to the laws and state standards governing the needed repairs so they are able to research the matter themselves if interested.

The assembly was asked to give feedback after the meeting for the final refinement of the MTC feasibility study. While the governing body has not discussed this situation yet, Mayor Dick Claar admitted, "It's a discussion we need to have."