Thanks to everyone who signed this petition to save the cottonwoods in Depot Park. We are at 546 signatures as of this writing with about 400 of those being from locals, and the rest from around the state, the USA and the world. It would say a lot if we could double the number of signatures and get to 1,000. If you have friends who might be interested in this issue, please share the petition with them. At the same time, I think there is an opportunity to help the city seek out solutions to help guide this effort, because there is a lot of good in the plan to redevelop the park for ADA, adding play structures, and generally making the area even more inviting without harming what makes it great already. There were some comments at the recent city council work session that Depot Park is "underutilized", but I would counter that it sees daily use by the neighborhood and downtown visitors, and the trees have been using it longer than any of us — for a century! Depot Park gets large crowds at different times of the year, probably drawing bigger numbers than any other park except for Washington Park. This project is a great chance for Laramie to showcase its values and show our vitality and care for our public spaces. To me, that means keeping as many of these historic trees as possible and also finding creative ways to address parking and stormwater, hopefully while minimizing cost to the city and its residents.

The Laramie City Council met on August 12, 2025 and heard in-person from a number of residents about how important these historic trees are. Jeff Victor with the Laramie Reporter covered the work session and published a story summarizing the discussion. You can read it here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-171086348

To see the draft plan and survey feedback as presented to the council, click here: https://cityoflaramie.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/20800?fileID=29164 The image above shows the layouts that were preferred by people that responded to surveys created by the consultant Norris Deisgn, with respondents preferring option B for south Depot Park and option A for north Depot Park. 

See the city council agenda for August 12 here: https://www.cityoflaramie.org/AgendaCenter/City-Council-1

If you want to listen to the city council work session, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/live/aYO7LI0Tvkg?si=joUejbtkExSd3sG4&t=2460 The 1st street project discussion runs from 41:00 to 2:05:00.

Key points from the August 12 work session:

• The city arborist assessed the north side trees are mostly in fair condition, with a few in poor condition, mostly because the existing parking lot and sidewalks disturbed these roots. Sentiment among staff and council during the meeting seemed to lean toward removing all these cottonwoods along the 1st street sidewalk, but there was no motion or vote.
• The south side trees are healthier, but also listed in fair condition. According to the arborist's report, they cottonwoods along 1st street in south depot park may be 80 years old, and could live 100-120 years.
• The current plans for 1st Street gain about 35 total parking spaces in the Jackalope lot and diagonal parking along first street north and south of the depot. 
• Residents say the current lot and street parking are rarely full except on special events. The city staff seemed to be responding to downtown business owners saying there is a parking problem. There seems to be discrepancy between this perception from businesses and what Depot Park area residents are seeing. 
• Stormwater management will have as big or bigger an impact to the root structure of the trees as the diagonal parking and curb and gutter. The current plan could require digging up the street and laying new stormwater pipe on the west side of 1st street at a depth of 6 feet, which would harm the health of the trees in the south side of Depot Park and likely shorten their life. The survey recorded several people asking for bioswales or sustainable stormwater management, but the current plan didn't show this as an alternative.
• Assistant city manager Todd Feezer estimated the total project would cost about $1 million for park improvements, and $5 million for street reconstruction, to include curb and gutter and stormwater infrastructure.
• This is currently a visioning project, not a capital project, so there isn't any actual cost estimate by line item, or any appropriation, which would come much later. 
• The city council was grateful for all the feedback from the public that can shape this plan going forward.

Separately, some people speculated that there may be a connection between this 1st Street project and the Stencil apartment building project for the parking lot behind Coal Creek that was unpopular in the past. Some people have suggested that adding this new public parking along 1st street could pave the way for a housing development to go forward, and be in effect, a "giveaway" to a private developer. When I asked Assistant City Manager Todd Feezer about this he said that the projects (1st Street and Stencil lot) are unrelated. Instead it's an effort to address parking concerns of downtown business owners by "creating more parking on the periphery." 

Given current parking patterns along 1st Street, my take is that developing this area on the periphery to maximize parking in the core won't have the desired effect. 

Other options for increasing downtown parking availability exist, but aren't being discussed enough, such as increasing pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, enforcing parking time limits, creating paid parking (likely to be very unpopular), creating a valet system for peak business hours to benefit local nonprofits, leasing additional private property for more parking, etc.

It's even possible some residents on 2nd street would support diagonal parking in front of residential houses if it meant saving the Depot Park trees. A quick survey suggests roughly 10 additional spaces could be created per block on 2nd street through diagonal parking, while leaving 1st street as is to accommodate horse trailers and RVs under the cottonwood trees. There are also multiple private lots that could possible serve for after-hours parking. 

As for flooding issues, there are some ineffective sidewalks at 1st and Sheridan that could be contributing to stormwater problems and basement flooding. Obviously a flooded basement is a horrible situation, but there have to be some other options from French drains, to sump pumps, to better curbs, to bioswales that could help alleviate this. Putting a bioswale where the puddle is in Jackalope Lot could solve that drainage issue tomorrow, though it would cost a parking spot.

I hope to work with the city to see what alternatives might exist that could preserve the south depot park trees, and as many north side trees as possible, especially the relatively undisturbed cottonwood trees on the north side closest to the depot where a concert stage would be put in. There could be some creative ways to add more parking elsewhere and handle stormwater in ways that could be much less expensive, but we don't know what constraints/assumptions the city is working under to arrive at their current plan.

I would welcome a visit in Depot Park with the city arborist, interested members of the public and city staff and councilors to walk through some options. I will be requesting such a meeting and see where it goes from there. 

Thanks everyone for caring about this issue and making your voice heard. We will try to keep everyone updated as this moves forward.

-Greg Nickerson