The Kemmerer City Council met on Monday, Oct. 28, to address several community issues, including updates to the city’s animal code, upcoming airport improvements and a proposal for downtown development.

The council resumed ongoing discussions about potential changes to the city code regulating animals and fowls, with a particular focus on poultry kept on private properties. The need for updates to Chapter 5 of the code has been under consideration, spurred by difficulties in enforcement.

Kemmerer City Attorney Dean Stout addressed the challenges of enforcing chicken ownership rules, especially when households own multiple birds.

“Code enforcement with poultry is challenging because of the difficulty to identify ownership,” Stout said. “When there are up to a dozen chickens per household, it is more challenging to enforce.”

While some council members voiced that current codes specifically addressing chickens were sufficient, others felt modifications were necessary.

After deliberation, the council agreed to update some of the code’s verbiage regarding animals and fowls and subsequently approved the first reading of the amendments.

In other business, the council turned its attention to an upcoming airport improvement project slated for 2025. The project will involve seal coating and marking the airfield pavement surface, a necessary maintenance measure to ensure operational safety.

Kemmerer City Administrator Brian Muir explained that the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) has funds available to support the seal coat project, but securing an airport engineer for design and construction is the first step. The engineering and design phase will cost $55,927, with WYDOT covering 90% of the expenses. The remaining cost will be split between the city and county.

Following Muir’s briefing, the council approved the authorization to move forward with the design and engineering phase for the airport project.

The council also heard a development proposal from Jesica Lozier of EXP Realty. Lozier presented a proposal on behalf of a client interested in purchasing city lots at 809 S. and 823 S. on Main Street, aiming to establish office and retail spaces.

Lozier outlined the prospective business’s contributions to the downtown economy, saying, “The economic benefit would be that it contributes to the retail sales downtown and allows people to have general office space to lease downtown, which is hard to come by.”

She further reassured the council that her client would develop conceptual drawings for review to ensure alignment with the downtown area’s historical aesthetics.

Lozier said a structural engineer would need to evaluate the building, and a parking lot would accompany the development.