An Albany County School Board vote this week will decide whether a housing proposal in Laramie will be able to proceed.
Slade Elementary School was rebuilt at a new location a few years ago, leaving the old campus abandoned.
A communitywide coalition of housing advocates wants to build townhomes at that site, keeping them at a price point that teachers, nurses and other early career professionals can afford.
“Within the next year, year and a half, we could have 34 dwellings ready,” said Laramie Mayor Sharon Cumbie, who supports the project. “As we build more entry-level homes, it reduces pressure on the market, and the market begins to stabilize.”
The first step is acquiring the land, and through the city, the advocates have offered to purchase it for the appraisal value of $310,000.
But the district has received other offers of up to a million dollars or more for the same location.
Cumbie said the city cannot ethically offer more than the appraisal value because it has to be responsible with taxpayer funds. While it could pay more if the property were appraised at a higher value, Cumbie said the city will have to bow out “if it turns into a bidding war” between the city and private developers.
The school board will have to decide whether to support the workforce housing proposal or whether to sell the property for as much as it can, which would ultimately mean more money reinvested into school facilities, many of which are in need of repair or replacement.
Fred Schmechel is the interim chair of the Albany County Housing & Land Trust, a nonprofit independent of the city which would receive the property if the city’s purchase is successful.
Schmechel said the school district stands to gain from the increased availability of affordable housing just as other local employers do.
“Taking an approach that is focused only on the immediate returns is short-sighted,” he said. “They get $1 today, or they could save $10 in the future by reducing their recruitment costs, increasing the retention of their faculty that they currently have, and helping diminish the cost of other programs.”
The workforce housing proposal has buy-in from the neighborhood surrounding the school. Residents living across the street from the abandoned property or in the blocks just beyond have turned out to school board meetings to advocate in its favor.
Albany County School Board Chair Beth Bear declined to be interviewed for this story.
“The Board will review all offers from our realtor, and in a business meeting a public vote by the Board will be taken to accept or reject offers,” she said via email.
The vote is scheduled for Wednesday evening.
