Cody business owners: closed sidewalks deter customers
CODY — Multiple downtown business owners left an April 22 Cody City Council work session dissatisfied with concessions made by entities involved in the Yellowstone Impressions gallery construction project.
“For one man’s legacy, 120 families will suffer,” Ferris Jewelry owner Ferris Mufleh said after Tuesday night’s meeting.
As a result of the ongoing construction project at 1234 Sheridan Ave., a temporary sidewalk closure has been put in place at the center of the 1200 block of Sheridan. In a move that shop owners say will cause significant harm to their business, this closure prevents locals and tourists from walking continuously down the south end of Sheridan, forcing them across the street instead.
The closure will be in place while the steel frame of the project is being erected.
Despite initial estimates that the closure would not occur during the peak tourist season, delays in steel delivery and alterations to the original construction plan will result in the sidewalk being closed daily for approximately six weeks, with construction affecting the sidewalk now estimated to end around the 4th of July.
Tuesday’s meeting
More than 50 people packed into the meeting room at City Hall to listen to representatives from Sletten Construction, the company managing construction, and the Wyoming Department of Transportation explain the cause for the sidewalk closure.
“They’ve put a lot of modifications and changes into the building. That’s some of the challenges we face when we work our way through a construction project,” Wyoming Regional Manager of Sletten Construction John Griffith said.
Griffith went on to say that he too wishes they were further along in the construction process and that their communication to business owners was less than ideal as they faced delays.
On the matter of alterations to the design causing delays, Griffith said that unforeseen changes to the building’s original design stemmed from the Collier Group’s desire to “build a very impactful building to downtown Cody and realizing they only get the opportunity to do this one time.”
Multiple business owners reported that they were not informed of the delays to construction that would move the sidewalk closure into the peak season for downtown businesses. The lack of communication between Sletten and business owners prompted members of the city council to urge Griffith to be more transparent.
“I actually took the time to walk to these businesses to inform them of tonight’s meeting. I got the impression that nobody from your business had been there in a long time. That’s not the way we want to do business in Cody,” councilmember Don Shreve said. “These people’s livings are derived from a three month period, for the entire year.”
WYDOT Public Relations Specialist Cody Beers echoed Shreve’s message of stressing the importance of keeping business owners informed.
“It’s easier to take (knowing) you’re going to get shot if you know when it’s going to happen. Businesses are feeling the burn of this,” Beers said.
As a result, Griffith agreed to provide a weekly update to businesses in order to inform them of upcoming closures to the sidewalk and alleyway south of Sheridan, as well as any additional changes.
Waste removal and mail delivery
Due to sporadic closures of the alley behind businesses, various shop owners voiced concerns over their ability to have packages delivered by companies which use the alley for deliveries.
Further, the closure has caused up to a week-long delay in waste removal, with one business owner reporting they had to place garbage bags in the alleyway due to overflowing dumpsters.
“We’ve made multiple calls to the city about our solid waste. Our garbage bins have been overflowing to the point where we’ve had garbage bags on the ground,” said Wyoming Buffalo Company Owner Lisa Del Valle. “I’ll also have several semi-trucks using the alley to drop off pallets of items, which can hopefully be sold, and that is also a concern.”
Another business owner said that in recent days, although the ‘alley closed’ signs were removed, construction machinery was still parked in the center of the alley, effectively closing it anyway.
Concessions made
By the conclusion of the meeting, Griffith had agreed to improve communication lines with businesses, keep the alley open and notify businesses when closures were necessary, and pay for signage to help market businesses impacted by the sidewalk closure.
However, the sidewalk closure during peak season can’t be avoided, which left some business owners unsatisfied.
“We get it’s a short window to build in Wyoming. In the future, if there’s a similar situation, I’d like to see WYDOT and the city say, ‘Hey, maybe we can afford to eat May and maybe some of September. But June, July and August – that should be hands-off,’” Wyoming Trout Guides owner Blake Clark said.
Rhys Humphries-Wadsworth, an apprentice jeweler at Ferris Jewelry, echoed a similar sentiment to Clark. Humphries-Wadsworth said that after changes to the original plan caused the project to be delayed into the peak season, the construction project should have been delayed until after the fall to avoid harming local businesses.
“I don’t like the fact that the only concessions they’re willing to make was essentially just signage. When you’re trying to be neighborly and you’re doing something that’s going to negatively affect 100 of your neighbors, you ask for their input. I don’t think they’ve done any of that and I don’t think they’re willing to do any of that,” Humphries-Wadsworth said. “Some of these businesses make 80% of their income during the summer. It’d be better to have three months of closure in the winter than a six week closure during the summer.”
Mayor Lee Ann Reiter assured attendees that the council was working to ensure a similar situation would not arise in the future.
“This was approved a year ago. I can’t apologize for what happened a year ago, but we’re going to do better. This crowd (the current city council) is very much into protecting and supporting local businesses.”
This story was published on April 24, 2025.