North Cheyenne affordable apartment complex clears rezoning hurdle | Local News

CHEYENNE ­– A proposed apartment complex that would offer low- and middle-income housing in north Cheyenne won a key stamp of approval Monday night when the City Council voted to rezone land for high-density development.

Councilman Dicky Shanor was absent for the 9-0 decision.

Developer Summit Housing Group plans to build a three-building, 72-unit complex for low- and middle-income residents east of Converse Avenue between Storey and Dell Range boulevards.

Sam Lang, a Summit senior project manager, said his firm is aiming to break ground on the project by early next year pending city approval of building plans.

Despite indications that the council would support the move, nearby homeowners who oppose the project again came out to protest the developer’s plans and city processes.

Krystal Lewis, who lives on Plainview Road just east of where the apartments would sit, said the complex was stretching the city’s zoning rules and development code.

The complex didn’t call for enough units to merit a high-density designation, she said, and flouted other guidelines that encourage new development to blend with existing structures.

She also pointed out that the complex will be a triad of three-story buildings west of a neighborhood composed mostly of single-story homes.

“This doesn’t look like our neighborhood,” she said.

“Why can’t it look more like our neighborhood?”

City senior planner Susana Montana said the city was OK with the development’s density because it wasn’t too far off recommendations and the apartments still fulfilled the city’s goal of dispersing affordable housing throughout the city.

Lela Ladd, who also lives on Plainview Road east of where the apartments would sit, chastised the council for running what she saw as a closed process in which homeowners were only considered after Summit had hammered out its deal with the city.

“I want you to know that your unwillingness to engage in a meaningful conversation ahead of time has hurt some of the very people you were elected to represent,” she said. “The outcome may not have changed, but the fact that it was decided before we were able to speak is wrong.”

She also rebuked the council and a Wyoming Tribune Eagle editorial for mischaracterizing her motives.

“I got involved in this process and tried to remain professional while addressing concerns only to be a labeled a bigot,” she said.

She said she was simply worried about potentially losing money on her house if she tried to sell it because of lax upkeep of rental properties by landlords.

Her comments echoed many area homeowners who have said they oppose the development at previous meetings. While some comments have evoked fears of increased crime or overcrowding in schools caused by renters, Ladd and others have maintained that their financial concerns are completely reasonable and not motivated by classist disregard for low-income residents.

No argument swayed council members, though.

Councilman Rocky Case said the council couldn’t ignore research showing that subsidized housing does not bring crime if established in strong, safe neighborhoods. He also said he’d seen data showing low-income children who grow up in middle-income or high-income areas make more money over their lifetimes than those left in poor neighborhoods.

“Who can argue that that’s a bad thing?” he asked.

Councilman Bryan Cook deliberated the most with the decision. He asked Montana whether the developer of new single-family homes in the area was in favor of the apartments, how the development would impact area sewage capacity and how the process would move forward if rezoning were approved.

But his queries got answered ­– the single-family home developer was against the apartments but sewer capacity was likely sufficient ­– and Montana guaranteed that city staff would take homeowners’ concerns into consideration when it was looking over the developer’s building plans.