Downtown Design Standards Update from LMSA

LMSA supports the proposed amendments to the UDC as they are in line with national best practices in downtown redevelopment and strategies documented in the 2012 Downtown Development Plan. While we support holistically the adoption of Design Standards in order to preserve the unique character of the downtown district; taking into consideration the economic downturn and feedback received, at this time, we recommend focusing on the standards that encourage new construction so  it is easier to build and more effective do business downtown, as well as still providing continuity of design for the district.

We believe these standards include:

• For new construction, remove the building height limit and allow for a 30 feet minimum 

• Ensure parking requirements for all new construction, both commercial and residential are the same (i.e. no parking requirement)

• For new construction, allow developers to build lot line to lot line, with an 80/20 minimum to maximize land use in the district

• For new construction, support the installation of 70% storefront window transparency

After feedback from businesses and property owners, Main Street understands the timing is not right for full adoption of the design standards. In the midst of the pandemic and economic crises, businesses, developers, and downtown advocates haven’t had the bandwidth to fully understand how these changes will impact them. There is a perception that these standards will place a burden on entrepreneurs. 

To assist in the improvement of economic conditions, Laramie Main Street believes the focus at this time should be on making it easier to do business downtown. By updating design standards for new construction, we support budding entrepreneurs, developers, and investors in growing the diversity of businesses within the district. A strong mix of both new and existing businesses benefits us all by driving additional traffic downtown, increasing property values, and generating new sales. 

Once Laramie gets back on its feet, LMSA will work with the Planning Dept. to bring back the remaining standards that will assist the commercial district in maintaining its economic and cultural vibrancy. We believe by preserving downtown’s built environment, including authentic building materials, transparency and historic storefront styles, we are creating  a more resilient local economy for years to come. 

2020 Silver Linings

This year has been a learning experience for everyone to say the least. But amid all the changes and struggles we are thankful for what we were able to accomplish in 2020. Because of the hard work of our dedicated volunteers, board members, local businesses and staff, Laramie Main Street Alliance is grateful for these projects we were able to achieve during our 15 year anniversary:

1. Covid resources: When the pandemic reached Wyoming, we transitioned our website and e-news to include helpful Covid related resources for both consumers and businesses. These ranged from fun activities to do at home, safe ways to support businesses, links to health guidelines, free trainings and grant opportunities for businesses. 

2. Gift Card Challenge: Early in the spring, when we were first experiencing restrictions due to Covid, we launched a gift card challenge! Gift cards are an easy way to support businesses that were not able to operate as usual - so we challenged the community to purchase gift cards to local businesses to be entered to win Downtown gift certificates! 

3. Virtual guides:  This year we have developed and published 2 virtual shopping guides - these list out ways you can shop with local businesses and restaurants online!  A one stop place for your online shopping needs! We did a spring edition and Holiday edition!

4. Laramie Marketplace: With the help of Hits 106 we assisted in the launch of Laramie Marketplace - it’s a central location to purchase gift cards online, view menus, or see available jobs for local laramie businesses. 

5. Hollyhock Commons: In partnership with the City of Laramie and Laramie Public Art we assisted with the creation of Hollyhock Commons. This innovative outdoor dining area provided additional eating opportunities for the community to enjoy local restaurants. Eight picnic tables with umbrellas were set up by the Hollyhock mural for Laramie residents and visitors to enjoy takeout food and alcoholic beverages (with the approval of an open container district for the summer)!  Planters and signs created by local artists made the area cozy and bright! A true collaborative effort to support downtown restaurants, breweries, and bars! 

6. Shop Safe Shop Smart: this summer we collaborated with Wyoming Main Street, Wyoming State Chamber of Commerce, and Wyoming Economic Development Association for a statewide campaign. “Shop Smart” refers to the importance of shopping locally and supporting your local economy. “Shop Safe” focuses on shopping with new safety standards in mind – which include social distancing, increased sanitation, customer limits, alternative ways to shop, and more. Across the state communities used materials to showcase safety measures and remind communities to shop local!

7. Temporary mural at the Wyo Theater with LPAC: Earlier this fall, LMSA partnered with Laramie Public Art and a University of Wyoming printmaking class to install an evolving and ever changing mural at the Wyo Theater.  Students working in groups created a mural by adding to and responding to elements installed by the team before them. The result was a dynamic and engaging mural reflective of the challenges of 2020. 

8. Creating Covid safe events such as the Farmers Market, Ghostchase, and Pop up Art Walk.  This year we’ve had to rethink our usual line up of events! Even though we couldn't have all our events we had many that were able to be altered to be Covid Safe. The summer farmers market was adapted this year to include safety standards for vendors and patrons and a new larger area for the market! In September LMSA helped facilitate 20 artists set up a pop-up shop at a variety of downtown businesses - turning downtown into an art gallery for an entire week!  This Halloween we partnered to put on a community wide Ghost hunt - a fun and safe scavenger hunt! 

9. The Power of 5 with United Way: Laramie Main Street and  United Way of Albany County  worked together to bring the Power of $5! We challenged the community to shop and dine downtown in at least 5 participating Power of 5 stores or restaurants - each of which had a special $5 promotions.

10. Improvements to the Wyo: The Wyo theater, built in 1925 as the Crown Theater, remodeled in 1950 with streamline modern details, was donated to Laramie Main Street in the fall of 2019. This year we were able to fix the leaky roof at the Wyo Theater, as well as developing a plan to restore the facade and having the building systems (plumbing, electrical and HVAC) inspected, all big steps in getting the building in working repair! This work would not have been possible without grants from the Wyoming Cultural Trust Fund and LISC.

11. Crowdfunding Campaign: To celebrate our 15 year anniversary (and recoup funds lost from the cancelation of Brewfest) we launched a crowdfunding campaign to support LMSA.  We were overjoyed with the number of incentive/reward donations we received from local businesses along with generous cash match donations! And together we raised $19,000 to ensure our services remain free to the 290 businesses located downtown.

12. Cowboy Cash program with UW:  Released on October 30th, UW’s “Cowboy Cash” program gave $50 in gift certificates to UW students living on campus with a meal plan. The goal - to provide students with additional dining and shopping options and help offset financial losses experienced by local businesses.  As of Dec. X, businesses in the Laramie community had received $X, thanks to “Cowboy Cash” student purchases.

13. Train Lighting: This year we wanted the holidays to be extra special - so we decided to light up the train in depot park! Thanks to the generosity of the community who donated lights and with the help of the City of Laramie Parks and Rec departments and the Historic Train Depot board members, we were able to light up 4 train cars! And we had a special guest visit when we lit up the train cars - check out the video here.

14. Brookings Institute study: In late 2019, Laramie Main Street began a partnership with Main Street America and The Brookings Institution  to develop a case study for hyper-local, place based community development. The data collected was compiled into case studies exploring why Main Street programs are a key driver of economic recovery in rural America, why rural businesses need local solutions to survive, and how rural resilience depends on flexibility, accessible, built environments and where work is still needed to bridge social divides. Read the full series here.

15. Restaurant Payroll Grant - Because Locally owned brick and mortar restaurants, and their employees, were struggling from the effects of Covid 19, Laramie Main Street has partnered with United Way of Albany County, Blue Federal Credit Union, Toyota of Laramie, Premier Bone and Joint, Trihydro Corporation, and UniWyo Federal Credit Union to create a “Downtown Restaurant Payroll Grant”. This grant offered up to $1,500 in payroll assistance to businesses. We are proud of the partnerships and how quickly everyone was able to pull this together to support our community at the end of 2020. In under two weeks, we have provided $30,000 in grant funds to 21 businesses which support 90 FT and 287 PT jobs.

Main Street Celebrates 15 Years with Crowdfunding Campaign

Laramie Main Street Alliance (LMSA) is excited to celebrate 15 years of serving Downtown Laramie with a crowdfunding campaign, set to launch Thursday, October 15th. The campaign will be hosted through The Local Crowd, a community based crowdfunding platform that allows individuals to support local initiatives. 

The mission of Laramie Main Street is to preserve historic Downtown Laramie while enhancing its economic and social vitality. In the last 15 years, Main Street has ensured economic development, historic preservation, marketing, and business coaching services remained free to any entrepreneur or property owner downtown. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, it relies on tax-deductible donations and income from events like Laramie Brewfest  to make this possible. This campaign is crucial to helping the organization continue to meet mission-critical expenses and recoup losses from those events not taking place this year.

“We’ve had so many local businesses support us in this effort and provide amazing incentives and cash matches to our crowdfunding campaign. We are excited to launch on the 15 year anniversary of our organization and engage the community in our efforts to revitalize downtown.”

— Trey Sherwood

“This year we weren’t able to put on our biggest fundraising event, Brewfest, so we’ve had to get creative on obtaining funding to meet our operating expenses and continue to provide services to downtown businesses.”  Explained Trey Sherwood, LMSA Executive Director. “We’ve had so many local businesses support us in this effort and provide amazing incentives and cash matches to our crowdfunding campaign. We are excited to launch on the 15 year anniversary of our organization and engage the community in our efforts to revitalize downtown.”

 The campaign goal is to raise $20,000 by November 15th. Visit laramiemainstreet.org/15years to donate and view the rewards from local businesses available in exchange for your contribution. There are also many cash matches available from local sponsors so contributions double their impact! 

An advance thank you to our community for preserving Downtown Laramie’s history, supporting local businesses and raising funds for 15 more years of development, celebration, and love for our town!

Laramie Main Street designated as a 2020 Accredited Main Street America™ program

Laramie Main Street has been designated as a 2020 Accredited Main Street America™ program. Accredited status is Main Street America’s top tier of recognition and signifies a demonstrated commitment to comprehensive commercial district revitalization and proven track record of successfully applying the Main Street Approach™.

In 2019 alone, the Wyoming private and public sectors invested $18 million in Main Street downtowns. This investment set the stage for the start of 57 net new businesses and the creation of 186 net new jobs in Main Street communities.

In Laramie, a net number of 13 new businesses opened, creating 32.5 full time equivalent jobs, and volunteers dedicated almost 3300 hours of time in 2019.

Laramie Main Street’s performance is evaluated by Wyoming Main Street, a program of the Wyoming Business Council that works in partnership with Main Street America to identify the local programs that meet 10 rigorous performance standards. Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, documenting programmatic progress, and actively preserving historic buildings.

 The Laramie City Council was presented a certificate of appreciation at the August 19th city council meeting in recognition of the continued support they have given Laramie Main Street Alliance.

“Wyoming Main Street understands the needs for economic development in Wyoming’s communities and provides training and tools, but your Main Street successes are only possible with full local support, especially that of the municipal government.”

— Linda Klinck

“Wyoming Main Street understands the needs for economic development in Wyoming’s communities and provides training and tools, but your Main Street successes are only possible with full local support, especially that of the municipal government,” said Wyoming Main Street Program Manager Linda Klinck. “Please accept this recognition knowing that the Wyoming Business Council acknowledges your continued support for Laramie Main Street.” 

Wyoming Main Street congratulates Laramie Main Street on its Accredited Main Street status and continued efforts in grassroots economy building.

State-wide Shop Smart Shop Safe Campaign

SHOP SMART – SHOP SAFE is a statewide campaign to provide business recovery resources and free marketing ideas and materials designed to help business owners make their customers feel safe and comfortable enough to return to shopping in their stores after the COVID-19 shutdowns.

“Wyoming did a great job getting out the message about the importance of staying home and flattening the curve of COVID-19,” said Wyoming Main Street Program Manager Linda Klinck. “Now, as restrictions are lifting and businesses are opening back up, business owners are finding their customers are nervous to come back out. So, we’re providing a resource kit to help ease their customers’ minds and safely bring them back out to their shops.”

“Wyoming did a great job getting out the message about the importance of staying home and flattening the curve of COVID-19,” said Wyoming Main Street Program Manager Linda Klinck. “Now, as restrictions are lifting and businesses are opening back up, business owners are finding their customers are nervous to come back out. So, we’re providing a resource kit to help ease their customers’ minds and safely bring them back out to their shops.”

— Linda Klinck

The two-part campaign is a collaboration with Wyoming Main Street, the Wyoming State Chamber of Commerce and the Wyoming Economic Development Association.

Materials include:

• Shop Smart Logo and customized local logos

• Window clings (provided by Wyoming Main Street)

• Business recovery checklist 

• Marketing checklist

• Window flyer and social media assets

• Social media caption ideas 

Window clings are available free of charge for businesses and organizations in Wyoming. To obtain free window clings, please contact Linda Klinck at linda.klinck@wyo.gov.

For the other materials mentioned above, including the checklists, flyer, and logos, please visit www.wyomingbusiness.org/shopsafe. 

In addition, Wyoming Main Street, in coordination with local Main Street organizations, is hosting “Wyo Wednesdays” as part of the Shop Smart, Shop Safe campaign. 

Wyo Wednesday, to be held on the first Wednesday of each month, will encourage shoppers to explore and support their downtown businesses. Promotions and events will be organized by local Main Street organizations around the state. Check out your local Main Street’s social media or website to see what is happening in your community. They may include promotions at downtown businesses, events or other activities.

The series will continue throughout the summer with a different theme each month, starting with “Locally Made” in July. A flyer template for businesses, a list of businesses producing goods locally and promotion ideas for businesses are available on the Shop Smart webpage.

For more information and to download these materials, please visit www.wyomingbusiness.org/shopsafe.