CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Twenty years ago, Stan and Tammy Higgins moved onto three acres of windswept shortgrass prairie outside this Old West railroad town. From their back window they saw grazing cattle, roaming antelope and coyotes on the prowl. Today, that pastoral scene is gone.
Heavy trucks, earth movers and hundreds of construction workers have run nearly around-the-clock for about two years building a Meta Platforms data center adjacent to the Higgins property. To the east, Microsoft recently announced plans to triple the acreage of its sizable data complex. To the south, work is beginning on Project Jade, which developers say could become one of the largest data centers in the United States.
Now the community is confronting a proposed “temporary workforce housing complex” — a man camp — that would house as many as 5,600 laborers and tradespeople on land minutes from the Higginses’ Bison Crossing neighborhood. Iron Guard Housing, the developer behind the plan, is touting the project as a “lifestyle experience” with high security, linen and dining service, a gym and pickleball courts, according to owner Chad Ross.
Stan Higgins, 72, a retired civil-service technician with the Wyoming Army National Guard, says he has long believed in private-property rights. But the construction noise, rumbling trucks and constant influx of workers, he said, “has us at our wits’ end. There’s no end of it in sight. It is heartbreaking.”
Cheyenne, a city of about 66,000 residents known as “The Magic City of the Plains,” has become a data-center mecca — drawn by wide-open spaces, low taxes and abundant energy along Interstate 80. Betsey Hale, chief executive of the area’s economic-development organization Cheyenne Leads, said 10 data centers are operating, two are planning to expand, five are under construction and another nine have been announced.
“We’re definitely having growing pains,” said Jeff Morrow, business manager of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 415. “It is really changing the dynamics of Cheyenne. We’ve got the folks that love it, and then we see folks that say, ‘I want Cheyenne to stay the small and great community we have.’ It is a Catch-22.”
Cheyenne Mayor Patrick Collins said the boom is critical to keeping young people from fleeing Wyoming. He recalled touring the Meta site and encountering five young construction workers who had left the state for jobs elsewhere and returned to work for Meta long-term. “It was really gratifying,” he said, “to see these kids be able to come home.”
Not everyone shares the mayor’s enthusiasm. In recent months, chatter on the Cheyenne Community Connections 2.0 Facebook page has boiled over, with hundreds of residents weighing in. “Men who are away from their families (assuming they have families) with no ties to this community,” warned one post. “They’re trying to turn our beautiful state into Colorado/California,” wrote another. Some residents, however, saw a bonanza: “Just think of all that money coming in with those workers buying things locally!!!”
At a mid-May meeting of the Laramie County Planning Commission held in the historic red-brick courthouse in Cheyenne, residents lined up to speak in three-minute slots, many drawing on memories of the state’s earlier energy booms. State Rep. Clarence Styvar, a Republican representing Laramie County, said he grew up in coal-mining Uinta County. “I remember the shovel fights on Main Street, the murders,” he said. “We need to consider where we put this.”
Justin Arnold, head of the planning and development department, acknowledged the “contentious” atmosphere. He told the commission that the man camp was actually a mitigation measure — a way to prevent thousands of well-paid workers from flooding an already strained rental market. “What I fear for is the cashier on South Greeley Highway that’s working at Safeway, that’s going to get priced out as soon as their lease comes up on their rental,” Arnold said. “If you’re renting, you are up a crick.”
Despite the opposition, the planning commission voted unanimously to advance the project. Two weeks later, when the Laramie County Board of Commissioners took up the item, it was pulled at the last minute. Casey Palma, who is working with Iron Guard Housing on the approval process, said local officials are pushing for consideration of a few other sites, though it is not yet clear which option will prevail.
Heather Madrid, 40, a community organizer who led an unsuccessful petition to pause data-center development, said the camp “is going to be just dropped in the middle of a neighborhood.”
Arnold maintained that concentrating worker housing would be safer for everyone, adding that the sheriff would much rather have deputies “keeping an eye on 6,000 workers in one area than dispersing them throughout the communities.”
On a recent day at the Higgins home, Tammy watered flowers on the patio while Stan worked on his irrigation system. A steady stream of trucks trundled past, sometimes drowning out conversation. Tammy, 64, a retired state auditor, said they plan to stay put for now. “We’re going to see what kind of neighbor Meta turns out to be.”