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Council approves business‑park zoning changes amid heated public debate about landscaping and data centers
Summary
Cheyenne adopted zoning changes reclassifying several industrial/business park areas to a new 'Business Park' district to allow more uses (daycare, neighborhood retail) and reduce some landscaping requirements. Neighbors warned the change eases development standards and could encourage more and larger data‑center campuses; planning staff said data centers remain permitted and the new BP zone aligns scattered prior rules.
Cheyenne City Council on May 26 approved on second reading a package of zoning changes that reclassify several industrially zoned areas to a new Business Park (BP) district, intended to increase flexibility for employers and allow support uses such as childcare and neighborhood retail.
Planning staff said the BP zone consolidates mixed legacy zoning and reduces onerous landscaping requirements that previously required extensive tree planting in open‑prairie business parks. "This does not change the land‑use allowance for data centers," Planning Director Charles Bloom told the council; the change is intended to permit a wider array of businesses and amenities to support employees in business parks.
Public comment was extensive. Opponents — including nearby residents, neighborhood advocates and some land‑use critics — said reduced landscaping requirements will make large industrial parks appear barren, risk visual blight, and remove buffers between homes and heavy industrial uses. "I am against reclassifying this zoning for possible data centers even though anything can go into these business parks," said Kathy (last name given in transcript) during public comment, asking why larger corporations receive landscaping flexibility while smaller downtown businesses are subject to stricter landscaping rules.
Supporters, including Cheyenne Leads and staff, argued BP zoning will attract diverse employers and amenities while preserving sensible landscaping standards better suited to exposed prairie development. "The reason this zoning change helps is it allows childcare and neighborhood retail for people who work in these parks," Dante Rushton of Cheyenne Leads said.
Council approved the changes on second reading after extended debate. Council members asked staff to document how landscaping standards would now be applied lot‑by‑lot and to ensure notice and buffering for adjacent neighborhoods.
Next steps: the ordinance will return for final reading on a later council agenda; staff committed to follow‑up on landscaping guidance and signage/notice for adjacent residents.
