GILLETTE, Wyo. — Populous has kicked off its work on the master plan for improving the CAM-PLEX.
Principal and Director of Equestrian Services Todd Gralla and Architectural Designer II John Brown from Populous met with Campbell County business and community leaders Jan. 12 to examine the facility, its current and historical operations, and how to make the area around it a more appealing destination, they told the Campbell County Public Land Board that night.
Brown said the team will reach out to events operators and community stakeholders who have used the CAM-PLEX facility to discover the facility’s strengths, challenges and opportunities. He said they also want to talk with operators who haven’t used the CAM-PLEX to understand what improvements or enhancements the facility needs to become more competitive. They will examine similar venues to gain insight into best practices and report back in a few weeks, Brown said.
Gralla and Brown said they want to keep communication open with the community.
Campbell County Public Land Board Executive Director Aaron Lyles said he will collect and recap community feedback.
There will be public information sessions in the future, Gralla said. The next few weeks, however, are largely dedicated to organization and data collection, Brown said. That way, the team itself can answer some questions from the public about what it sees and take more meaningful input from the public, which could also come through a public questionnaire, Gralla said.
Reflecting on his past experience with other public engagement processes for projects, Lyles said he’s very impressed with Populous’ organization. It’s a wonderful beginning, he said.
“I feel like the right steps to lay the foundation for engagement are in place, and so I have a lot of excitement in my heart about the opportunity and that this isn’t going to be just another document that you have to have that you put in a file cabinet,” he said.
The board unanimously approved at its Nov. 10 meeting a proposal to pay Populous up to $257,000.01 for the master plan consulting work. Gralla and Brown are based out of Populous’ Norman, Oklahoma, office.
