Casper City Council Okays Changes to Two Properties

A theoretical street runs through the athletic field at Natrona County High School, and the Casper City Council voted Tuesday on the first reading of a proposed ordinance to abandon it.

The council also annexed a state-owned lot at the northeast corner of CY Avenue and Southwest Wyoming Boulevard that will be zoned for general business.

The first property is a city easement for South Elm Street between West Collins Drive and East Eighth Street.

An old map showed the street existed with residential lots, but the school district acquired those properties over time.

The city has known about this for years, and Doug Tunison with the Natrona County School District told the council during the public comment period that he recently learned about it.

The problem surfaced when the school district reviewed of a cell tower lease and determined that the easement was never officially vacated, according to the agenda for Tuesday's meeting.

After the meeting, Mayor Charlie Powell said the easement was there all along.

"Technically, the city had the right to put a street through there again, if we ever wanted to, but that would be a bad idea since that's Natrona County High School's track," Powell said. "We just needed to vacate that and basically make our city plat line up with the real situation."

The second property at CY Avenue and Southwest Wyoming Boulevard was an abandoned Wyoming Department of Transportation right of way, according to the agenda.

Seven Synergy Holdings, LLC, applied to the city to annex the 1.7-acre property, plat it, and change the zoning to general business for the West Casper Commerce Addition.

Powell said this is a good example of finding a piece of property within city limits and developing it.

Given the council continues its approval, the proposed ordinances will go through two more readings before becoming official.