EVANSTON — The Evanston City Council met for a work session on Tuesday, Jan. 9, to discuss several items, but the topics of changing the striping on Front Street and the possibility of removing the traffic light at the corner of Harrison and Main Street created the most conversation.

City officials are considering changing zoning codes in hopes of streamlining the codes and make them more “user-friendly,” said Evanston Mayor Kent Williams.

Williams said he hopes that by revising the codes, the city will be able to reduce the number of conditional use permits.

“The code revisions should be driven by the public,” said Mayor Williams. 

Council members suggested forming committees for downtown, residential and commercial areas of the city, starting with downtown, to make suggestions to Planning and Zoning on how to revise city codes.

The city is considering restriping Front Street from Harrison to 10th Street. The restriping will reduce the number of lanes southbound on Front Street from two lanes to one lane, reducing the total number of lanes from four to three. After crossing 9th Street, the lane will be restored to four lanes.

Reducing the number of lanes through the downtown area of Front Street will provide a dedicated left turn lane, will allow left-hand turns onto 9th Street for cars traveling north on Front Street, and will increase the space for cars parked in parallel parking by one foot.

If officials elect to make the changes, it will only require restriping the road. If approved, restriping could begin in early summer or even as early as late spring.

The more controversial subject at the meeting was the proposal to remove the traffic light on the corner of Harrison Drive and Main Street.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) did a traffic study and found the traffic count does not warrant a signal. WYDOT suggested removing the light and replacing it with a signal controlled by pedestrians.

Some asked if removing the light would increase speeding from people traveling downhill on Harrison and others felt removing the light would harm downtown businesses. 

Another concern was that the traffic count is currently less than a few years ago because of the end of the energy boom, but if business increases, and traffic increases, it might be costly to replace the signal. 

Williams said it appeared that WYDOT was leaving the decision up to the city and felt it might be a good idea to reconsider after the restriping job on Front Street.

“We obviously need to think about this one,” the mayor said.