Med Bow Town Council talk future impacts on community
Mayor Kevin Colman called a special meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. on July 15 at the Medicine Bow Community Hall with council members, Karla Denzin, Sharon Biamon, John Cowdin, and Trevor Strauch present.
Colman explained the purpose of the meeting was to discuss and decide on prioritizing the impact monies received from the TB Flats and Gateway projects. Town Clerk/Treasurer Karen Heath said they had received $400,000 to date from the TB Flats project and $93,333.34 from the Gateway projects.
Colman said the impact funds from TB Flats requested was $1,000,000 for law enforcement and $2,000,000 for streets. He added there was a total of $700,000 requested from the Gateway project for water storage tank rehabilitation, water treatment plant tank rehabilitation, sewer lift pumps and sewer lagoon improvements.
Heath said the computer panel replacement at the water treatment plant had cost $42,949 and could be deducted from the Gateway money.
Resident Sandy Levengood asked what was going to happen with the streets. Colman said, the council wasn’t sure which projects would start off and which wouldn’t, using, the Boswell Springs project as an example as it was on hold indefinitely because all the money had not been collected from that project.
Heath said this was the reason for asking for street money from different projects. She added when it says “street repairs and maintenance”, it was a broad term so that the town would be able to do either chip-seal or asphalt.
Colman said engineers were looking at using recycled asphalt. Levengood asked if there could be curb and gutter with chip seal. Public Works Director Charlie George said the town could possibly do curb and gutter, but chip seal alone wasn’t the best option. He said the survey to determine where the streets really are would be done first and some things might have to be moved. The survey would involve using a drone. Denzin asked when the surveyor would start. George said they would start that week, and they would get some good aerial photos out of it He added the State of Wyoming was starting a milling project on Route 487 and he had traded bulk water for 15,000 tons of roto-mill and public works would see how many streets they could do.
Denzin said she had talked to George and was surprised at the amount of time it was going to take before the streets could be completed. George said it would be best to wait until all the funds were in before they did anything.
Resident Cindy Chace said people would have to move their stuff off the street, adding it was a hazard. George said the problem would solve itself when the police station came in. Resident Troy Maddox said law enforcement would be a mess at first, since they hadn’t enforced laws for so long. He said it wouldn’t happen overnight.
George said, when they did the water main project, they asked people to move their stuff out of the way and people were good about moving it. George said the drainage could happen this fall and the council had to decide what to do because it would take 60 days if they put the work out to bid that day, and another 30 days to take bids.
Resident Vernon Scott asked if there would be culverts. George said the drainage would have to be done before the streets were done, and there would be a combination of flow pans and subsurface drainage.
Biamon made a motion that the first monies received from TB Flats should go to the police department. It was seconded by Denzin and approved by the council.
Next the Gateway project funds were discussed. The council approved George to spend the money as needed on projects.
Colman said there was $175,000 left from the Boswell Springs project that was unallocated. Heath asked who was looking into purchasing generators with Boswell money. Levengood asked where the generators would go. Colman said one would go to the Fire Hall and one to the Community Hall for emergency power for people on oxygen.
George said he would like to replace the town’s blade. He added Wyoming Machinery had offered him a “very good deal” on a 2013 blade that had 1100 hours on it, while the 1975 blade had 19,000 hours. He said if they could get this blade the town would be set for equipment for a very long time. Biamon asked what it would cost and he said $170,000. The council will look at purchasing at a later meeting.
Man Camp Trailers
The next topic was man camp trailers.
Scott said he thought they had already discussed that at the Planning and Zoning Board meeting. Colman said there was some discussion as to what to do. He said part of him wanted to treat them as trailers, but part of him wanted to show that Medicine Bow really was impacted by these projects and the population had doubled or tripled. It proved the town needed impact funds. He said where to draw the line for safety was the question. Chace said, in order to put multiple worker housing on her property she had to designate it as a trailer court and asked what did she have to do in order to designate it. Jim Colman of Planning and Zoning Chairman said technically they were titled as CJ’s RV Park, and if they wanted to, they could call it CJ’s Trailer Park.
Chace said the man camp trailer renter wanted to rent the whole lot, but could only put a few on the space because each trailer required 5,000 square feet. Maddox said they were temporary residences. Chairman Colman said the town ordinances didn’t recognize temporary. Maddox said the trouble with these buildings was if the town didn’t specify they were temporary, the companies could leave them behind when the project was over. There was also concern about the trailers being too close together in an event of a fire. Resident Kenda Colman said there was a fire at an RV with a car parked a few feet away that wasn’t affected by the heat or flames, but there had been a garage fire where the fire department had had to work hard to save the building next to it. She said packing was the issue. Chace said that, when you look at a trailer park, you have the same issue.
Scott said all his trailers had 5,000 square feet. Levengood asked if the RVs were parked on 5,000 square feet. Mayor Colman said that depended on their original use, some had been converted to trailers. He said that RV fires didn’t burn hot, and in the fire with the RV last January, it didn’t burn hot enough to ignite the hay bales around it. He said most of the trailers were older and hadn’t been inspected. Core-Ab, the company that was providing the man-camps, was different and used better products.
Heath said she received a phone call earlier that day asking for housing for 500 more workers. Chace said the workers on the transmission lines were asking for 20 spaces and they would be here longer than Oftedal. Kenda Colman said the reason to put them in town was that they could see and control what was going on. Jim Colman said that no specs on the skid trailers (man-camps) had been provided. He said he didn’t know how wide or long, or what the electrical capacity of the trailers were. He said he was being asked to make decisions based on no information. Mayor Colman said trailer parks were required to submit an electrical plan to the State.. If the State electrical code wasn’t met, they would shut down the trailer park and start over. It’s inexpensive and fast to do a plan, and the State is cracking down on RV and trailer parks.
John Forester said the man-camp company will do the electrical.
Maddox suggested classifying the trailer as a mobile home and asked how much space had to be per home in a mobile home lot. Jim Colman said he would check. Troy Maddox asked how much space was required for an RV and Jim Colman said 900 square feet. Chace said you couldn’t put RVs in a trailer park. John Forester said the company had placed man camps in RV spaces.
Mayor Colman said there was no municipality in the State of Wyoming that would allow them in city limits because they don’t meet the requirements of a mobile home. Jim Colman said, by ordinance there could not be more than eight mobile homes per acre, which was 5,000 square feet. Jim Colman said the county attorney suggested the town use the term “mobile home” to describe them. Maddox said they weren’t mobile homes, but were a specialty item and should require a special permit. He said they should be able to be put closer together than mobile homes require.
Scott said he thought they had discussed this at the last meeting and Mayor Colman said they had discussed it, but it was moving faster than the town could keep up. Denzin asked how many spaces the town could offer for man camps. George said the town couldn’t offer any lots. Mayor Colman said he would like to see something on every lot here so people can make money.
George said the town have restricted how much money people could make by restricting the space and he asked what was wrong with putting two units on one space. Denzin said they had just discussed that fire was the issue. George said, if a company tells you they have not had a fire in 33 years, that should tell you if there’s a hazard. He said the propane units on the man-camps were the same size as those on a RV. He said he had seen more fires in RVs than in man-camp trailers. He suggested making the space requirements 2,500 square feet per unit. Forester said man camp trailers weren’t built like RVs and wouldn’t catch fire.
Mayor Colman said he had seen one trailer catch fire and burn eight others before professional fire departments could respond. Forester asked if they were older trailers and Mayor Colman said they were. Biamon asked how many man camp trailers Forester could put in and he said 14, maybe more once the old cabins were torn down. Biamon asked if there were enough hook ups and Forester said they would have them. Biamon asked if they had spoken to the electric company for those. Forester said they had.
Denzin asked what the electric company had told Connie Morgan about her lots. Morgan said they had told her she needed 200-amp services. Denzin aske if that one meter per service and Morgan said yes. Forester said his were the same. George said each man camp would be a 50-amp service, while mobile homes would be 100 amps. Mayor Colman said the council needed to set guidelines under which Planning and Zoning could operate so people couldn’t come in, set up trailers and abandon them. Maddox said that could be controlled with a special use permit.
Jim Colman said it would take 30-60 days for a special use permit before issuance, whereas a building permit would take only 15 days. Resident Kathy Benefield said to think about parking issues if they were going to cram trailers in. Forester said there was room for parking.
Mayor Colman said the spaces behind the old grocery store weren’t long enough for man-camps and Scott said they would have to go in sideways. Strauch said that Core-Ab, the man-camp dealer, had told him they were looking for 30-40 lots, not just four or eight, so they wouldn’t want to put them there.
Biamon said there should be a process to expedite a special use permit. Maddox asked if the council would entertain the idea of a modified permit. Mayor Colman said he’d support something expedited for this type of structure and to specify what applies. He was not opposed to adjusting the space requirement, but it would require a building permit. Mayor Colman said if it was a temporary structure it would have to be moved every 30 days. If they left the ordinance alone, they might be able to pass a resolution stating that the council could exercise discretion for a state of emergency. Jim Colman said he had no problem getting a special use permit and attaching it to a building permit for a multiple worker living unit and reduce the space to 2,500 square feet. Denzin asked if the council changed the space requirement, would they need a building permit per lot or per man camp trailer. Jim Colman told her it would be per man camp trailer.
Denzin asked what each would cost and Jim Colman said it depended on the valuation of the trailer. He said he would need to know the cost of the unit and the specs. Denzin said that Morgan didn’t have that information and Jim Colman said he couldn’t issue a building permit without that information.
Mayor Colman said they had two options; change the full ordinance so that man-camp trailers could stay forever, or if they went with the special use permit, the landowner could come in with a contract and specifications, showing a site plan and then they can apply for a building permit. They would have to word the document so that it wouldn’t take 30-60 days to get a permit. Morgan said if it’s a man camp trailer she wasn’t purchasing it. Mayor Colman said no, she wasn’t purchasing it, but the council needed to give guidelines for them so she could get a permit faster.
The council approved creating an expedited special use permit for skid trailers (man camp trailers). Mayor Colman set a special meeting for July 22 at 6 p.m. for the purpose of passing such a resolution. Forester asked what he needed to have ready. Mayor Colman said after the resolution allowing this was passed, he had to have the trailer specs ready. He asked when the next Planning and Zoning meeting would be after the special meeting and Jim Colman said Thursday, July 25.
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