Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority outlines recovery plan, new projects and grants

Sophia Maize, executive director of the Cheyenne Downtown Development Authority, told the Cheyenne City Council on March 20 that the DDA has spent the past year rebuilding its foundation and executing parts of a refreshed plan of development.

"When I joined just over a year ago," Maize said, the agency faced "compliance gaps, programs that were unclear," and a new plan without an implementation strategy. She said the DDA has started 16 of 35 actions listed in that plan, with six near completion or converted into repeatable processes.

The presentation listed concrete accomplishments: a systemic sidewalk-repair process coordinated with the city's 1% construction team (two sidewalks completed in 2025 and nine applications awaiting spring 2026 cost estimates); a downtown asset inventory built with city engineering interns cataloguing fixtures such as bike racks, planters and lights; reinstatement and tightening of the façade improvement grant program; and a pilot of eight water-efficient planters paired with public signage for feedback.

Maize also reviewed recent grant activity. She said 14 grants closed in 2024 with more than $263,000 dispersed; in 2025 six grants were completed with about $97,000 dispersed and three still pending; and in early 2026 two grants were completed, five were projected and one was pending, with $50,000 dispersed and roughly $125,500 pending or to be awarded. "The dollars pending now already exceed everything dispersed in all of 2025," she said.

The DDA remains small: Maize said the organization operates with three staff members. She credited an 11-member board for stabilizing the agency and said staff and board training (including attendance at the International Downtown Association conference) multiplies what a small team can accomplish.

On communications, Maize said the DDA has built a new brand and campaign approach and is near completion of a redesigned website. She presented engagement metrics she said show growing public awareness: 51,220 individual emails sent since April 2025 with 35,347 opens (a reported average open rate of roughly 69%), and more than one million Facebook views from March 2025 through February 2026.

Maize framed limits on DDA activity around statute and the plan of development. She cited Wyoming statute 15-9-201 as the DDA's statutory foundation and said the board must align spending and projects to the public plan, noting that the agency is intended to act as a coordinator and catalyst rather than a sole implementer.

The presentation also covered ongoing investments and projects in downtown Cheyenne: the Weston Flats development (bringing more than 100 market-rate apartments), reinvestments by Health Works and the Wyoming Lottery, the 2024 Children's Museum opening, and city catalyst projects such as the Reed Rail Corridor and the 15th Street Experience. Maize said the DDA is processing a petition to expand district boundaries to include an additional West Edge property and has awarded capital improvement grants in that area.

Council members asked questions after the presentation. Dr. Evans commended the DDA's work and suggested moving away from framing communications around past shortcomings. An unnamed councilman asked about events; Maize listed community programming the DDA has sponsored or co-sponsored (Fridays on the Plaza, trunk-or-treat, holiday events, and screen-on-the-greens) and said the DDA is more likely to fund or co-host large festivals given current staff constraints. She noted board interest in reviving West EdgeFest but said it would require partnerships and additional capacity.

Council Labour asked about reserves; Maize estimated from memory the DDA's reserves were "close to $185,000" and offered to verify that figure. She explained that mill-levy funds may be used only for activities described in the plan of development and said the board has discussed possible long-term options such as property acquisition, but that the DDA currently lacks the operational capacity to manage such projects and views them as multi-year goals.

Maize also addressed office-location options under the city's annual renewal of the DDA's work-program arrangement, saying depot space once considered is no longer available because the Cheyenne Depot museum director retained it.

The presentation closed with council members urging continued attention to streetscape details—replacement banners and damaged light-pole globes were mentioned in the context of upcoming celebrations—and with no formal votes or actions taken during the session. Maize emphasized that the DDA's role is to create conditions for private investment and public projects and that the organization is focused on measurable, scalable work to restore public confidence.

Next steps noted in the presentation included verification of the reserves number and a pending petition to expand the district; council members indicated continued interest in the Reed Avenue corridor and in supporting expanded downtown events and maintenance work.