City receives petition concerning annexation and outlines next steps

Published on August 11, 2026

The City of Cheyenne has received a petition seeking to overturn a recent annexation ordinance and is sharing the next steps in the referendum process.

City Council also voted Monday night to ask for a declaratory judgement from the district court to determine whether Wyoming law permits the municipal referendum process to be used to challenge an annexation ordinance in addition to the review process provided under the state’s municipal annexation statutes.

The annexation involved is a parcel of just under 3,460 acres owned by Microsoft and is located in the southeastern part of the community. Microsoft intends to use at least part of that land for data center development. City Council approved the annexation on July 13, 2026.

Annexing the property into City limits requires the development to occur with City rules and services. Should the annexation be reversed, the property would be required to develop under Laramie County regulations and without City services.

Under Wyoming law, a petition signed by 10 percent of registered voters in a city or town requires the governing body to either repeal the ordinance in question or submit the ordinance to a public vote. Signers of the petition must be registered voters of the City or town upon submission of the petition and the petition has to be filed with the city clerk not later than 20 days after the ordinance is published following adoption.

The annexation petition in question was received on Friday, Aug. 7. The City Clerk’s Office is currently validating the signatures against a list of registered voters received from the Laramie County Clerk’s Office, which oversees elections. The validation process is expected to take approximately 90 days, and periodic updates on the process will be posted at www.cheyennecity.org/clerk.

At its Aug. 10 meeting, the Governing Body directed the Cheyenne City Attorney’s Office to seek a declaratory judgement asking the district court to determine how annexations are to be challenged according to state law. Wyoming Statute § 22-23-1005 generally provides a referendum process for municipal ordinances, while Wyoming Statute § 15-1-409 provides a specific statutory process for challenging annexation ordinances. The requested declaratory judgment is intended to clarify how those statutes operate together, including whether the referendum process is available as an additional means of challenging an annexation ordinance.

The City will provide additional information on this issue as it becomes available.