Urban Renewal… A Call to Action!

The Wyoming Legislature found and adopted to the state constitution a provision: to provide municipalities and towns the ability to develop and implement an Urban Development Plan.

According to the Community Development Plan, adopted by the Town as an official policy, Guernsey lacks suitable real estate for the development of commercial and residential properties. There are two major reasons why this is the case.

First, Guernsey is land locked by private and government owned property that prohibits the lateral growth of the town. Second, the owners of certain properties have allowed their properties to fall into disrepair and such degradation that the forming of slums and blights within the town has become a problem that is increasingly difficult to manage.

I have discovered there are two types of people in the area… Those who take care of their property, and those who don’t. I realize that property maintenance is expensive and somewhat burdensome. However, a short drive around town reveals that the town is succumbing to the conditions of a slum and, fearfully, this condition appears to be accelerating.

While employed as the Town Planner, I identified twenty-eight (28) properties that fit into the category of blighted, slum or abandoned sites. An urban renewal plan was re-developed and presented to the Town for the purpose of obtaining input and furthering ideas concerning the proposed plan.

Mayor Ed Delgado and Council Member Penny Wells viewed the plan as an attack on property owners, as the plan, in their opinion, was to dispose of identified properties without regard to the property owner. This was not surprising, as some of those properties identified are owned by members of the Town administration.

With the help of local citizens, I put together a petition, as stipulated in Section 15-9-106(a) of the State Constitution. This petition secured twenty-five (25) signatures as needed by State law and was subsequently submitted to Platte County Clerk, Malcolm Irvine, for verification that the signatures belonged to registered electors residing in the Town of Guernsey. I had to obtain additional signatures as some individuals did not reside in Guernsey or were not registered electors.

I completed this task and re-submitted the petition to the Platte County Clerk for validation of the additional signatures. With the document in hand, I then filed it with Town Clerk, Hillary Dawson. During the next Town Council meeting, the petition and suggested plan was read and tabled for further discussion.

It is Guernsey’s responsibility to provide for the general welfare for the Town as set forth by the Constitution of the United States. To date there has been no discussion, and the petition as well as the urban renewal plan has been ignored entirely.

I have reached out to the County Clerk and the County Commissioners and my request for redress continues to be ignored. This demonstrates malfeasance on behalf of the municipal and county governments. Malfeasance is defined as: wrongdoing or misconduct, especially by a public official, or the commission of an act that is positively unlawful.

This is in line with the State Constitution as noted below and is a Statewide problem, not unique to Guernsey. But why has it become so? Is there is a general apathy among the citizens of Wyoming?

In conversation, it has been said that Guernsey used to be such a beautiful town. Administrations have allowed people to do as they please, for personal, financial or other, potentially corrupt benefits. Or is it simply that they don’t care and feel it doesn’t affect day-to-day operations of the Town?

People appear satisfied with the hard work of the older generation and have allowed slow and often imperceptible decay to creep in. Now it is a general feeling of “…its too expensive to fix, it’s too far gone, or I don’t have the time…”.

The Town of Guernsey ignores the fact that when blight and slum properties exist, it is a very real detriment to the Town. It hosts problems that simply won’t go away. It becomes a home for pests, a harborage for criminal elements and transients. Additionally, assessed value of properties suffer as well, which discourages urban and commercial interests and growth within the town.

Several businesses and developers have looked at relocating to Guernsey, but because of the lack of affordable housing and suitable properties that could be used for commercial or residential use, they chose not to come.

Like a stone dropped in a pond creates ripples, so the ripple effect of inaction cripples Guernsey’s growth. Without sustainable growth of new industries and business, the future looks bleak, and Guernsey will no longer be a viable town.

The Urban Renewal plan was proposed as follows:

1. Identify blighted/ slum properties.

2. Inform owners of the urban renewal plan, working with local administration/ legal professionals to address the problem.

3. File with the district court to obtain a judgment on the property, for an assessed value.

4. Condemn the property,

5. Secure the property through the court, paying the owner an assessed value for the property.

6. Under town cost, abate/ clean up the property. Tear down houses, outbuildings, and repair grade to present the property as a vacant lot/ suitable buildable site for resale at market value.

7. Sell property and earmark funds for special project

8. Use funding from sale of property to use on next property identified.

9. Continue process to clean up and make ready the existing blighted properties, working with local contractors to build suitable housing and buildings for economic interest.

The final bullet point above makes an interesting observation, that the RFI/ ROI rating for the Town of Guernsey would rise. What that means is that the Federal Government and its affiliated departments will look at Guernsey as a place where business from all over the United States can come and open new business and develop economic opportunities. That would mean additional jobs, people moving to the area, and places for them to live. Housing prices would stabilize, and property values would begin to rise as the socio-economic value of the town increased. Tax revenues would increase and establish better infrastructure, school base, and other tax-based benefits.

The proposed plan overlooks the Town’s benefits at large, focusing instead, on the impact of residential/ commercial construction and the establishment of new construction sites. Guernsey can only move in one of two directions. The town grows or slowly continues to die.

Ninety percent (90%) of the personnel at Camp Guernsey, commute from out of town due to a lack of suitable affordable housing. Citizens must hold the administration accountable for their lack of action, and general ignorance regarding the welfare of the town.

This is a call to action! One voice is heard, one action is noted, but an entire town can facilitate change in a positive and constructive manner. Consider the future that can be built, consider the things that we, yes, we, can do together. Let’s make our town the Jewel of eastern Wyoming.

The following is the Wyoming State Constitution article pertaining to the Urban renewal plan and the authority therein for information to the reader. Please visit the website for the Wyoming State Legislature for the complete article.

15-9-101. Short title.

This chapter may be cited as the “Wyoming Urban Renewal Code.”

15-9-102. Legislative findings.

(a) It is hereby found and declared that there exists in municipalities of the state slum and blighted areas (as herein defined) which constitute a serious and growing menace, injurious to the public health, safety, morals and welfare of the residents of the state; that the existence of such areas contributes substantially and increasingly to the spread of disease and crime, constitutes an economic and social liability imposing onerous municipal burdens which decrease the tax base and reduce tax revenues, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of municipalities, retards the provision of housing accommodations, aggravates traffic problems and substantially impairs or arrests the elimination of traffic hazards and the improvement of traffic facilities; and that the prevention and elimination of slums and blight is a matter of state policy and state concern.

(b) It is further found and declared that certain slum or blighted areas, or portions thereof, may require acquisition, clearance, and disposition subject to use restrictions, as provided in this act, since the prevailing conditions of decay may make impracticable the reclamation of the area by conservation or rehabilitation; that other areas or portions thereof may, through the means provided in this act, be susceptible to conservation or rehabilitation in such a manner that the conditions and evils hereinbefore enumerated may be eliminated, remedied or prevented; and that salvageable slum and blighted areas can be conserved and rehabilitated through appropriate public action as herein authorized, and the cooperation and voluntary action of the owners and tenants of property in such areas.

(c) It is further found and declared that the powers conferred by this act are for public uses and purposes for which public money may be expended and the power of eminent domain and police power exercised; and that the necessity in the public interest for the provisions herein enacted is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination.

Please consider the following articles pertaining to the adoption and development of an urban renewal plan:

15-9-105. Workable program; formulation; objectives and provisions thereof.

(a) For the purposes of this chapter a municipality may formulate for itself a workable program for utilizing appropriate private and public resources to:

(i) Eliminate and prevent the development or spread of slums and urban blight.

(ii) Encourage needed urban rehabilitation.

(iii) Provide for the redevelopment of slum and blighted areas; or

(iv) Undertake any of those activities or other feasible municipal activities as may be suitably employed to achieve the objectives of a workable program. 

(b) A workable program may include provisions for the:

(i) Prevention of the spread of blight through diligent enforcement of housing, zoning and occupancy controls and standards.

(ii) Rehabilitation or conservation of slum and blighted areas or portions thereof by:

(A) Replanning.

(B) Removing congestion.

(C) Providing parks, playgrounds and other public improvements.

(D) Encouraging voluntary rehabilitation; and

(E) Compelling the repair and rehabilitation of deteriorated or deteriorating structures.

(iii) Clearance and redevelopment of slum and blighted areas or portions thereof.

15-9-106. Initiative resolution; how adopted; findings.

(a) No municipality shall exercise the authority conferred upon municipalities by this chapter until the local governing body, on its own motion or by virtue of a petition signed by twenty-five (25) or more electors of the municipality, has adopted a resolution finding that:

(i) One (1) or more slum or blighted areas exist in the municipality; and

(ii) The rehabilitation, conservation, redevelopment or a combination thereof of the area or areas is necessary in the interest of the public health, safety, morals or welfare of the residents of the municipality.