Cheyenne Votes Down Data Center Moratorium — What Happened and What's Actually Confirmed
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Cheyenne has become one of the more active data center markets in the country, drawing major technology companies with its cool climate, available land, and favorable tax environment. That growth has brought jobs and investment — and increasingly, it has raised questions from the community about what it all means long term.
Those questions came to a head on the night of May 26.
The Cheyenne City Council rejected a proposed 12-month moratorium on new data center development, voting 8-1. The meeting ran past midnight after nearly four hours of public comment — one of the longest city council meetings in recent memory, with a packed chamber and strong turnout on both sides.
What People Said
The crowd was roughly split. About half supported the pause. About half opposed it.
Those in favor cited concerns about water supply, noise, agricultural land being converted for industrial use, and the pace of change. A recurring theme was the sense that major decisions were moving faster than the community could keep up with — and without enough public input along the way.
Those opposed pointed to jobs, economic opportunity, and the signal a moratorium would send to companies already building here. Many of the voices against the measure were union construction workers currently employed on data center projects.
Council members said they understood the community's concerns but did not believe a moratorium was the right approach. The vote was 8-1 against.
Clearing Up the Numbers
Two sets of numbers have generated confusion throughout this debate.
On the vote: multiple figures circulated after the meeting. The confirmed count, verified against the official city council meeting record, is 8-1.
On data centers: figures ranging from a handful to as many as 70 have been cited publicly, depending on who is speaking and what they are counting. Operational facilities, projects under construction, projects in permitting, and early-stage discussions are four very different things — and they have not always been clearly distinguished. We are not going to repeat a number we cannot verify.
What is confirmed through public records and official company announcements:
Meta is currently building an $800 million, 715,000 square foot campus on 960 acres in Cheyenne. Construction began in early 2024 and the facility is scheduled to open in 2027. [SOURCE: baxtel.com/data-center/meta-cheyenne]
Related Digital broke ground October 7, 2025 on a $1.2 billion, 115-acre campus at Campstool Business Park with a total planned capacity of 302 megawatts. [SOURCE: related.com/press-releases/2025-10-07/related-digital-breaks-ground-302-mw-data-center-campus-cheyenne-wyoming]
Microsoft has multiple facilities in the Cheyenne area and is currently building a new campus on HR Ranch Road east of the city. City permit records confirm active engineering plan reviews filed under Microsoft's name at multiple Cheyenne locations. [SOURCE: datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/microsoft-breaks-ground-on-data-center-campus-in-cheyenne-wyoming and cheyennewy.portal.opengov.com — search the Records tab]
Crusoe received county approval for a 1.8 gigawatt AI data center campus approximately 8 miles south of Cheyenne, with first buildings targeted for 2027. [SOURCE: insideclimatenews.org/news/14012026/wyoming-county-approves-ai-data-center]
City permit records for Cheyenne are publicly accessible at cheyennewy.portal.opengov.com. To search, click the search icon in the top right corner and select the Records tab.
What Comes Next
The moratorium vote closes one chapter but does not end the conversation. Community concerns about water, noise, and long-term land use remain. Council members acknowledged those concerns even as they voted no. How Cheyenne manages continued growth — and how it keeps residents informed — will continue to shape local policy.
Where the Chamber Stands
Our members include businesses that depend on Cheyenne's economic growth and community members who have a stake in how that growth happens. We believe both things can be true at once.
We are committed to sharing verified, primary-source information on data center development in the Cheyenne area as it becomes available. If you have information or primary sources that would help clarify the public record, we want to hear from you.
