Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Historic Preservation Pumphouse topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pump house plan advances; Chamber may lease building, council weighs wetlands restoration funding
Summary
Councilors heard that the pump house restoration is moving from mothball planning to a full restoration plan after a potential tenant (Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce) expressed interest, and members discussed linking restoration funds to wetlands work at Crow Creek and a $107,722 2017 allocation.
City staff told the Cheyenne City Council the pump house project identified in last year’s goals is advancing from a mothballing plan to a restoration and tenant plan after preliminary interest from the Cheyenne Chamber of Commerce.
Project consultant TDSI and Randy Byers are preparing construction documents and cost estimates targeting an April 15 delivery of documents. Staff said the Chamber’s board has voted to pursue moving operations into the building if terms and costs can be finalized; city officials said the plan now is to renovate the pump house for office use rather than mothball it.
The council also discussed wetlands east of the pump house that function as a filtration area for runoff to Crow Creek. One councilor asked whether a 2017 allocation of $107,722 tied to a Crow Creek Revival memorandum of understanding could be repurposed for wetlands restoration now that the earlier Crow Creek program was discontinued. Staff said those funds could likely be reappropriated if the original MOU is no longer valid and that the amount would not fully fund a restoration but could be applied toward it.
City engineer and staff flagged floodplain constraints at the pump house site. The engineer said the location remains in a mapped floodplain and the site could see up to about 3 feet of water in an extreme event; if the building attains formal historic designation there are some allowances, but work would still need engineering demonstration that hydrostatic loads and waterproofing are addressed for areas at or below base flood elevation.
Council members also raised access questions along an alley that runs to Ames/Reid avenues and expressed interest in reviewing past DEQ documents and the prior Crow Creek agreement to understand dredging work and filtration intent. Staff noted the pump house building might be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places if restoration returns exterior and structural features to their earlier condition; that listing can support preservation grants and tax‑credit opportunities.
No final contract or formal lease was approved at the meeting. Staff said if the restoration and Chamber partnership proceed, construction documents will set scope and estimated costs and that estimates from one councilor’s sources ranged from roughly $1 million to mothball versus about $4 million to fully restore the building.
