Thrive Laramie | Laramie, WY - Official Website

In 2019, the City of Laramie, along with state and local economic development and educational partners, non-profit organizations, and community stakeholders embarked on an effort to develop a comprehensive 10-year economic development plan known as Thrive Laramie. The planning process was guided by locally sourced, professionally vetted, and community driven solutions to build on Laramie’s assets and to overcome barriers to success. The planning process was facilitated by a national economic development consulting firm, 4th Economy, which looked holistically at Laramie’s economy, and Community Builders, a non-profit economic and community development organization, which looked specifically at Laramie’s housing market. The Thrive Laramie plan, adopted in early 2020, includes improvements to Laramie’s housing market among its top recommendations. To that end, the City of Laramie and Community Builders are continuing to collaborate through a multi-pronged approach transform Laramie’s housing market.

Thrive Laramie: A Community and Economic Development Action Strategy for the Next 10 years

City Council adopts new policies regarding Single Family Zoning District Changes at April 19, 2022 meeting

"Original Ordinance No. 2044, amending various sections of Title 15.10, 15.12 and 15.14 of Laramie Municipal Code regarding R1, LR and RR Zoning district’s dimensional standards and accessory dwelling units" was adopted by City Council at their April 19, 2022 meeting. The changes add flexibility to what can be developed in single family zoning districts. The adoption of these new changes, which can be found here is part of Council's ongoing effort to increase the attainability of housing in the single family residential zoning districts (LR, RR, R1) and Laramie as a whole.

The City’s and Community Builder’s first approach to activating the Thrive Laramie Plan is to address our housing challenges. The City, community partners and Community Builders have started addressing housing through a comprehensive review of the challenges our home owners, renters, developers and contractors face when approaching the Laramie housing market. Our findings and recommendations have been laid out in the three documents below. Please review these documents and provide any feedback you may have. Comments can be sent by email at planning@cityoflaramie.org or by phone at (307)721-5207.

Community Engagement Summary: Thrive Laramie

This document represents a summary of feedback from widespread conversations and meetings with local leaders, developers, engaged community members and the general public as The City of Laramie and Community Builders developed the Thrive Laramie Plan. Public feedback was instrumental in developing the strategies and actions in the 2020 Laramie Housing Strategy and the 2020 Laramie Code Audit.

Laramie Housing Strategy 2020 Final

This document outlines the goals and objectives that we hope to use to tackle our housing challenges in Laramie. It outlines the more specific challenges we experience from our income gap and housing prices, to demographic concerns and where the City code is a deterrent to sustainable growth. The document outlines all of these challenges through collected data, community surveys and case studies from around the nation that highlight how we may be able to start solving some of these issues.

2020 Laramie Code Audit

The Laramie Code Audit is a document that addresses and identifies barriers within our DC, R3 and R2 zone districts that exist in the Laramie Municipal Code, more specifically, focusing on the dimensional standards under Section 15.12 of the LMC. The document highlights how our current code prohibits certain residential development and how the proposed changes could be beneficial to home owners, use our current infrastructure efficiently and ensure that our community allows for a variety of housing to be built.

Learning Outcomes by Phase

A table that represents what was learned through the different phases identified through the Thrive Laramie Economic Development Plan. These phases include community surveys, the project video, design workshops and all other public and community partner engagement activities.