If a plan to redevelop an area in the center of Casper doesn't succeed, it could "doom" downtown, a Casper City Council member said at a meeting in December.

The Old Yellowstone District redevelopment project formally began roughly two years ago when the city of Casper disbanded a citizens group working on the area and hired a consulting firm to form a plan.

It wasn't until the city council met to approve the roughly $140,000 plan that business and property owners in the area between First, Poplar, David and Collins streets gathered to voice concern.

Their questions stemmed from design guidelines and zoning in the plan that wouldn't allow certain types of businesses to expand or remodel more than 40 percent of their existing buildings.

City staff and the Casper City Council have said they won't use eminent domain or condemnation, but some business owners are still worried their businesses will lose value if they can't expand.

Many of the business owners in the area then formed a coalition and began to formally approach the city council with their concerns. As a result, the council decided will hold a public meeting on Jan. 24 to listen to public opinion about the plan and decide if it wants to proceed, take a step back, or throw the plan out altogether.

City Manager Tom Forslund said he worries that if the plan doesn't proceed, the area will economically decline and Casper will continue to only expand on the east and west sides.

Charles Walsh, a Casper entrepreneur who owns property in both the downtown area as well as the Old Yellowstone District, said the vision behind the plan is a good idea.

Right now, he said, the area is not a destination point, but a place people go to for a purpose and then leave. If there were sidewalks and retail businesses, more people may stay and wander the streets.

"I would love to see progress in the Yellowstone District with the following caveat - I don't want to see the core suffer. No one has any intent to do that, but I would hate to see any of the current downtown be hurt," he said. "I think we have a quaint and wonderful downtown and need to draw people to our core. If anything compromised that, I would be disappointed."

Walsh owns the Odd Fellows Building on Wolcott and several shops on Yellowstone Highway near the Iris Theatre.

"I am ambivalent about the plan right now," he said. "I purchased the building with the environment as it is. If it improves, awesome. And if not, I will continue to do my best to improve the property for either residential or retail."

Paul Meyer, the owner of Wyoming Automotive, on 801 W. Yellowstone Highway, said he isn't against the city's plan, but wants the city to carefully examine the area.

"You've got a substantial start here," Meyer said. "But don't sell us short. If there is not a place for us down the road, then we will go. Please don't cookie-cut the neighborhood."

Meyer said he hopes the city will be able to sit down with the business and property owners and come to a conclusion that satisfies both groups.

"There's so much anger and it doesn't have to be that way," Meyer said. "We want to see it happen, but we don't want to see our businesses upended because of a change in zoning and then nothing happen."

City council members will hear these concerns and said they also hope to hear proponents of the plan during the upcoming public hearing.

"I think we will come to some kind of consensus," Forslund said. "Even some of the people with concerns want us to attempt to promote the revitalization."

Contact city reporter Christine Robinson at (307) 266-0639 or christine.robinson@trib.com