Town Engineer Brian Lenz said the Hotel Jackson developers, KM Construction, have received conditional approval for their building permit, based on their ability to meet 17 conditions listed in the report. Hotel Jackson is owned by the Darwiche family and opened in June 2015 after the Darwiches bought the former Woods Motel property in 2004.

Several of the 17 conditions were quite technical, but some of the conditions required approval of neighboring properties that could be encroached upon for underground soil nails — used to support or shore up underground walls — and grading of the property. The soil nails would be at least 10 feet underground and would be on the north, east and south sides of the property. The nails to the east would be under town-owned and Wyoming Department of Transportation land. Nails to the south would run under Gaslight Alley property. Then to the north, the nails would go under property belonging to St. John’s Episcopal Church where the Browse N’ Buy sits at 139 N. Cache St.

Councilor Jonathan Schechter asked if the soil nails going under the Browse N’ Buy’s foundation would preclude St. John’s from doing something different, deeper into the ground on that portion of their property. Lenz said it is his understanding that they would not, explaining that once the Hotel Jackson foundation was in place, St. John’s could cut through or remove the soil nails as needed for a potential project.

It was those matters, along with proposed construction dates and the closure of part of southbound Cache Street to pedestrians and occasionally vehicular traffic, that contributed to the friction Monday night.

The excavation, foundation work and completion of the street-facing facade is expected to take approximately eight months, Lenz said. He said the Darwiches would like to begin construction by April 14, if not sooner, depending on gaining the needed permits and approvals. Attorney Stefan Fodor, speaking on behalf of the Darwiche family and Darwiche-owned Stage Stop Inc., said they anticipate the entire project taking 18 months, and said the Darwiches are focused on mitigating impacts to pedestrian and vehicular traffic in that area in the busy downtown core.

“We’ve really been working hard on our construction management plan and process, and we have a checklist that provides them the information to get us a plan that ... everyone can generally work with and work from and agree to,” Lenz told the council. “It provides the guidelines, but every project is different. So, there’s no one-size-fits-all construction management plan that’s out there.

“Our priorities in the construction management plan are safety first, and then minimizing impacts to the public and minimizing use of the public right-of-way.”

Lenz offered possibilities for detoured pedestrian and vehicular traffic, because “what you can’t do is walk through the construction project” for safety reasons.

One possibility presented involved closing the west side of Cache Street between Gaslight Alley and Gill Avenue for a period to allow for dirt removal and construction of the facade on the east-facing side of the project, Lenz said. That would involve the loss of at least four parking spaces, plus areas for the dumptrucks to stage while being filled with dirt.

Lenz said the plan would involve the developer and contractors reaching out to adjacent property owners that would be most impacted by the construction, which is something several neighbors complained had not been done. At least, not in a timely fashion.

Trey Overdyke, an attorney speaking on behalf of St. John’s church and Browse N’ Buy, said that they only learned about the staff recommendation and construction management plan earlier in the day Monday.

“I learned tonight from Mr. Lenz that this project has been undergoing discussions and negotiations for two years, and this is the first time that the church and Browse N’ Buy has learned that there was any intent to block pedestrian access in front of the building,” Overdyke said.

“The church absolutely recognizes the importance of safety. We also recognize the importance of timing and communication, none of which we’ve had with the town or the applicant,” Overdyke added, noting that the church cannot afford the liability of having a crane on their property, as seen in construction plan schematics shown and discussed at Monday’s meeting.

Overdyke asked that the council continue discussions until agreements can be reached between the church and the applicant, with whom he said the church has had a positive relationship in the past.

Attorney Jim Lubing, who was representing several Gaslight Alley business owners, also said there had been no communication with those businesses until recent days. He also said a representative for the applicant may have misrepresented to the town that there was no need for such discussions as they owned Gaslight Alley, which Lubing said is not correct.

Like Overdyke, other commenters expressed concern about what a lack of foot traffic on the west side of Cache Street during the peak summer tourism months could mean for businesses.

Dan Harrison, who said he is one of the original Gaslight Alley business owners, pointed to two signs shown in the schematics which point out that “Gaslight Alley shops are open” as an admission that blocking pedestrian access will negatively impact those businesses.

“After coming off of a COVID year ... this will be another hardship on not only businesses in Gaslight Alley, but also other businesses on Cache Street,” Harrison said. “Their priorities are imposing on the minority, in this case, or the little people, the small businesses, because of their desire to do things on their timetable.”

Several commenters were joined by Councilor Jessica Sell Chambers in urging better communication and further consideration of a Nov. 1 start date in order to not disrupt the summer season.

“I hear all of the comments ... and especially coming out of a COVID year, I’m alarmed,” Chambers said, adding that she has “extreme apprehension” about the rush to push the plan through and begin construction going into the summer months.

Chambers said she was prepared to make a motion for town staff and the applicant to go back to the drawing board “for this massive undertaking” and hold meaningful consultations with neighboring property owners. Prior to her motion, though, Councilor Schechter moved to approve the encroachment onto town-owned land with the soil nails, which was approved unanimously.

Chambers then moved for town staff to continue working with the developer on the construction management plan and bring it back before the council when appropriate at a future meeting; a motion which also passed unanimously.

After the meeting, Chambers reiterated that she feels summertime construction there is a “horrible idea” and that she was disturbed by an apparent lack of communication.

“Frankly, I was concerned with the fact that there was a very specific group of people who all came out and said they weren’t consulted,” she said. “Which to me is a huge red flag.”