Massive 5,600-Worker Man Camp Proposed For Cheyenne's South Side

The article reports on a contentious proposal by Iron Guard Housing to build an 800-unit temporary workforce housing campus, or "man camp," near Cheyenne, Wyoming. This facility is designed to accommodate up to 5,600 construction workers and specialists for several large-scale projects converging on Laramie County, including existing Meta and Microsoft data centers and the proposed Project Jade data center. The application, filed by Palma Land Planning on behalf of Iron Guard, targets a parcel at 3312 York Avenue within the High Plains Business Park, adjacent to the Meta data center site. The proposal has sparked significant local opposition and concern among Laramie County and City of Cheyenne officials. Residents like Elizabeth Marvin, Heather Madrid, and Maureen Clifton have voiced strong objections, highlighting potential strains on local infrastructure, increased traffic, public safety issues, and potential decreases in property values. City of Cheyenne Planning and Development Director Charles W. Bloom flagged several issues, including the application's confusing language regarding the camp's actual capacity (stating 800 "units" while each modular unit houses seven people, totaling over 5,750 beds) and unresolved technical concerns about fire protection, water/sewer, and building code compliance. Bloom also estimated a potential loss of $46 million in city per-capita funding over a decade if thousands of residents are housed in unincorporated county land. Laramie County Planning and Development Director Justin Arnold, while acknowledging Bloom's concerns, emphasized the urgent need for worker housing given the approved data center projects. He argued that consolidating workers in a controlled, fenced camp with on-site rules, including a no-alcohol policy, would be preferable to thousands of high-wage workers saturating the local rental and hotel markets, which could price out existing Cheyenne residents. The Laramie County Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the application on May 14, followed by a decision from the Laramie County Board of County Commissioners on June 2.