Microsoft’s data center plans fail to get planning commission endorsement Monday
Microsoft's plans for a 3,200-acre data center campus in Cheyenne, Wyoming, faced a setback when the City Planning Commission failed to recommend crucial land use and zoning changes to the City Council. Commissioners expressed concerns about housing, water usage, and the sheer scale of the development. Although one request for annexation passed, the key amendments needed for data center construction were effectively denied at the commission level.
Microsoft's extensive data center campus plans in Cheyenne, Wyoming, encountered a significant hurdle when the Cheyenne City Planning Commission did not gather enough votes to recommend essential land use and zoning map changes to the City Council on June 1. Motions for recommendations required four 'yes' votes from the seven-member body, but with two members absent, one dissenting vote was sufficient to block multiple proposals, which are then considered recommendations for denial.
The proposed development encompasses approximately 3,200 acres of undeveloped land, including a large site near Laramie County Community College and two smaller properties within Cheyenne city limits. While the commission did recommend annexing the two large parcels into the city as agricultural land, it failed to endorse amendments to the city's future land use and zoning maps that would permit data center infrastructure. Commissioners Meghan Connor and Amy Hernandez voiced concerns regarding the impact on housing availability, citing that the development would consume nearly a fifth of the city's current size, and questioned its water usage, despite reassurances from city officials.
Cheyenne City Planning and Development Director Charles Bloom and Board of Public Utilities Engineering and Water Resource Manager Frank Strong addressed the water concerns, noting the data center would connect to city water and sewage, with Microsoft's new closed-loop chip systems projected to use water equivalent to five average city households annually. However, the scale of the project remained a primary concern for the dissenting commissioners.
Despite the Planning Commission's negative recommendation, all of Microsoft's requests will still advance to the Cheyenne City Council for further consideration. The proposals will undergo committee review and three readings by the council before a final decision on approval or denial.