ROCK SPRINGS – After receiving resident’s concerns about explosives being stored at the Haliburton facility on Blairtown Road, the Rock Springs Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously passed a conditional use permit for their storage on Wednesday.

The request to store the explosives at 1801 Blairtown Road was actually presented to the commission in October but was tabled after concerns were brought forward by the Union Pacific. On Wednesday Assistant City Planner Brian Heaton explained the current situation.

Heaton said a letter from Union Pacific was sent expressing several concerns over the proposal. He continued, saying shortly after, UP was able to meet with Halliburton and discuss the issues. Then, UP withdrew its concerns.

Adjacent property owners were notified about the project. Heaton said Bill McCurtin did speak with the planning department and had several questions that were not really concerns.

Explosives have to be stored in a special bunker-style building. Heaton said Chief Building Inspector Jeff Tuttle looked at the site at Haliburton’s facility and was comfortable with the design and construction of the building.

Board Member James Johnson asked if Carl Blanksvard at the fire department had looked at the site. Recently the City of Rock Springs moved the fire inspector position away from the RSFD and under the Public Works Department. Heaton said Tuttle is currently the acting fire inspector until a new one can be found.

Brant Lyman of JFC Engineers represented Haliburton. He said the facility was built in 2004 and has been in use since. Lyman said the Conditional Use Permit should have been applied as far back as 2004.

The board unanimously approved the storage.

New convenience store

Plans for a new convenience store located at 1640 Elk St. have been sitting on the table since August. City Planner Jennifer Shield gave a brief update on the status of the new service station at the meeting.

She informed the board the reason why it has been on the table as long as it has is because the Wyoming Department of Transportation requested a traffic study as they had concerns about adding to the congestion on Elk Street. Shields said the study has been completed and the different agencies are going though the findings now.

She said the proposal should be up for board action next month.

Gunsite Estates

Recently the Rock Springs City Council gave approval for the Gunsite Estates on Reagan Avenue to move forward. On Wednesday, the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the final plat for the first phase of the project. Board Chairman Mary Manatos abstained from the vote.

Phase 1 consists of of 40 lots and totals 18.23 acres. Shields also explained the city recently purchased a drainage easement and is planning to build a small park with benches and some playground toys and a pond for the drainage. The pond will help with drainage issues on Reagan which include the Preserve Apartment’s other developments on Reagan.

Shields said there were several concerns about the plans and a revised set of plans was given to staff on Oct. 30. She said the Engineering Department still had concerns and the second revised set of plans had been given to staff and the board.

“All utility review concerns have been fixed,” Shields said.

Manatos said the plans looked great and she couldn’t wait for the subdivision to get started.

Board member Paul Legerski asked if all access would be off Reagan Avenue. Shields said for the first phase it would. If the second phase is built, then access would be from Foothill Boulevard and Arthur Avenue also.

Minor Site Plans approved

Two minor site plans were also approved by staff. The first approval was for Red Desert Crossfit Gym to move into a commercial space located at 1865 Dewar Drive. The plan was submitted by Mathew Register of LER Group, LLC representing Lisa Anselmi Dalton the property owner.

The second is the approval of a new wireless telecommunication tower which will be data only. The tower will be located at 1124 College Drive. Shields explained it will be to help Southwest Counseling Service with their data needs.

New Commissioner

After getting approval from the Rock Springs City Council, Shields introduced new board member Kimberly Steele to the commission.