The Goshen County Economic Development Corporation took some suggestions from Torrington citizens Wednesday night on what they would like to see improved in the local economy.

The Torrington meeting was the last of five meetings held in municipalities around Goshen County. GCEDC Executive Director Lisa Johnson said the goals of the meetings were to let people know that the GCEDC is a countywide organization and to solicit input from residents. Wednesday’s meeting drew a crowd of more than 60 people including members of the Torrington City Council, the Community Hospital and Golden Homes boards, business owners, several bank presidents, EWC faculty and other concerned citizens. Johnson said the Economic Development board has been impressed by the turnout at each of the meetings.

“We were just thrilled with the turnout and interest,” Johnson said. “We got at least one if not several project ideas from each meeting.”

Johnson said the other meetings had hit on good economic factors in the other communities, such as tourism in Fort Laramie, the prime location of Lingle and historic preservation in LaGrange. The GCEDC will be taking all of these ideas and factors into consideration when marketing Goshen County to potential businesses.

“We want to be focused and diligent in Goshen County, in Torrington and in the surrounding communities,” Johnson said.

Johnson asked those who attended the meeting to write down areas in which they would like to see Torrington improve in the next 10 years. Some of the areas suggested included increased use of green technology and energy, more recreation options, increased population, expanded library, more businesses and light industry, better access to health care, youth involvement and a cleaner image.

Johnson said she was particularly surprised by the consensus among everyone attending the meeting on wanting a cleaner appearance for Torrington. Several of the suggestions mentioned getting rid of weeds and tearing down abandoned buildings, especially along the highways.

Robert Ward spoke briefly about land use planning. Ward said he had numerous conversations with citizens who were concerned that, because planning had been mentioned at previous meetings, the commissioners were going to unilaterally change the planning strategy in the county. Ward said the commissioners are in the process of taking suggestions on land use and have not made any decisions yet.

“We have not changed the land use plan by any means,” Ward said.

The county does need to look at planning he said, because regulations need to be put in place for new types of industry coming into the county, especially wind power, as has already been done for industries such as feedlots and dairies. Ward mentioned as an example that responsibilities for road maintenance to and from wind farms would have to be decided.

“We know of one wind farm with 60 towers,” Ward said. “It took 41,000 loads to set up down one road.”

Ward said the county also hopes to address road issues on the new 35-acre plots in the near future.

County Attorney Patrick Korell also addressed county land use. Land use planning, Korell said, would look at the current regulations, demographics and other factors to see if the current plan is meeting the county’s needs. Any decisions made on changing land use would depend on community input, public hearings and elected officials as well as the planning recommendations.

Korell said that when the community gives its input, the result is usually in line with common sense.

“What the law requires us to do is come up with a foundation for our common sense,” he said.

At the end of the meeting Jeff Fuller, who is heading up the governor’s “Building the Wyoming We Want,” initiative, spoke about the initiative’s purpose and goals. Fuller is an engineer and a native of Torrington.

Fuller said he and his advisory board and staff had been visiting many organizations and communities around the state, listening to exactly the kind of discussions the GCEDC has been conducting. Wyoming, he said, is a state of vast regional and economic differences and the initiative was formed as a public/private not for profit partnership to look at long-term strategies for Wyoming that would reflect each region’s values and goals.

“What do you want Wyoming to look like to your grandkids?” Fuller asked. “That’s the type of thing we want to look at.”

Fuller said the initiative is currently looking at setting up community and business input councils to give him and staff advice and feedback.

Johnson ended the meeting with an announcement that Torrington has been selected as a Wyoming Main Street Community. The Wyoming Main Street Program offers assistance to communities to help improve and attract customers to their downtown areas.

Now that the meetings are concluded, Johnson said she will be preparing a report on the results of the meetings that she will release to the public and present to the various town councils.

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