More time.
That’s what nearly 50 residents pleaded for Monday as the Cheyenne City Council considered a controversial ordinance that, if passed, would force two farms on county land into the city limits.
The council heard public testimony and considered a handful of amendments over nearly five hours, before unanimously voting to postpone the final vote of the ordinance to Nov. 9.
The proposed annexation has been contentious for months.
It is part of a larger plan Mayor Patrick Collins introduced when he took office in 2021, intending to annex portions of the county that are surrounded by city land. On Monday, he said the city council has annexed over 100 such parcels to date.
There are seven parcels left to annex, all of which fall in this ordinance.
Annexing these pockets into the city would lay out clearer boundaries for city and county services, the mayor said, and would eliminate confusion over jurisdiction.
But WY fresh farm owners David and Tommie Kniseley and dozens of their supporters have advocated for WY fresh farm to not be forcefully swallowed up by the city, because operating under city ordinances would completely re-define how they can and cannot do business.
WY fresh farm sells fresh, local produce and partners with over 50 other farms and food artisans. If the farm is absorbed into the city, the owners fear they will be forced to abide by city ordinances they do not currently follow as a county-owned property — such as having fences that are to city code and limiting the number of livestock they can care for.
Those who spoke in favor of protecting WY fresh farm from forced annexation Monday included farm customers, state legislators and county and city residents.
Mayor Patrick Collins briefed the packed council chambers on the Robert's Rules of Order and said he looked forward to having a civil discussion.
The annexation has been a contested issue at recent council meetings, with WY fresh farm owners and dozens of local residents pleading with the council to postpone the annexation.
WY fresh farm supporters showed up in green shirts, as they have for the past several meetings.
Charles Bloom, director of the Planning and Development department, commended WY fresh farm for garnering “the most green ever in the council chambers at one time.”
Zoning Report
Bloom told the council his department has been trying to make the annexation process as easy and predictable as possible for WY fresh farm. He suggested that “what they have in the county right now probably isn’t exactly what the county approved.
“We want to be able to move in, work with them on continuing the operation of this farm as it is, allow for livestock and chickens and animals to continue to be brought into the site, provided that they aren’t constituting a nuisance,” Bloom said.
“We hope that this annexation can be deemed complete today so we can complete the county pocket annexation process. “I’m looking forward to hopefully being able to close this chapter.”
At issue throughout the hearings on the annexation has been capturing a definition of an urban farm. The department has a working definition, but it has not yet been codified.
Bloom addressed the farm’s ability to continue to expand in the future without any public hearing or roadblocks. If the farm were annexed into the city, however, he said, any new building or major changes would still have to go through a site plan.
The Public Speaks
Tommie Kniseley, owner of WY fresh farm, was the first in a long line of farm supporters to publicly oppose the annexation.
“I’m here to ask you to exclude my farm from annexation. I would like to start by offering the first olive branch.”
Kniseley apologized for making blanket statements blasting the city council when, in reality, she said, only a few city council members seemed unwilling to work with the farm.
Earlier Monday, the Kniseleys met with six city department heads in an attempt to find a path forward.
“That is how complex this annexation is,” Kniseley told the council. “Even so, as of today, we are still unclear of all the regulations we will be under (if annexed). It’s unclear if we even have the right to farm. We need time to figure it out. And so does the city.”
Kniseley took her seat to applause from the crowd. Mayor Collins admonished the crowd, reminding them to maintain order.
“I appreciate your support, but we don’t do that here,” he said.
David Kniseley thanked the department heads for meeting with him and his wife, saying the meeting helped WY fresh farm and the city to come to a more level playing field.
“We discovered that some of the answers that were given were given without complete information about what we are doing,” he said. “We discovered today that you all are annexing us and you don’t even know what we’re doing or how we’re doing it or why we’re doing it."
He added: “A couple of you have told us to sell and move where we’re wanted.”
But Kniseley said, while he has considered moving, he isn’t interested in that option.
He emphasized that he is not necessarily opposed to the annexation.
Instead, he said, “I feel like a bride who’s been kidnapped, taken to the altar, asked to say yes to marriage, without anyone trying to persuade me. So persuade me. A little sweet talk.”
Fear of Arrest if Annexed
Tommie Kniseley has been vocal about fearing the consequences should WY fresh farm be annexed into the city.
Last week she told the city's Public Services Committee that she fears she could be criminally charged and go to jail if the City Council annexes her farm into the city limits.
WY fresh farm would be subject to city zoning requirements if annexed. Failure to comply could lead to misdemeanor criminal charges, up to six months in jail and up to a $750 fine.
Cheyenne resident Denel Pugh choked back tears as she addressed the council.
“Tommie Kniseley stood at the microphone and she said that she did not want to be the first person jailed for moving a caterpillar tunnel without a site plan,” she said. This is not hyperbole. This is the city’s code.”
A woman who identified herself only as Tatiana told the council she drives from Colorado to the farm stand to get food and milk, because food allergies prevent her from consuming store-bought milk and eggs.
She addressed a fence on the farm’s property that was damaged by the city in 2024.
The city still hasn’t fixed it, she said. She questioned how the Kniseleys could adequately defend their livestock once their property is annexed, as it is illegal to shoot predators within city limits and the fence still had not been repaired.
Cheyenne resident Verana Booth said the reason the annexation has been such a struggle is because a farm and a city are two different entities.
“It’s like trying to force a square peg into a round hole,” she said.
Donnie Crerar, another Cheyenne resident, called out what he saw as a rift between governing bodies, civil servants and its people.
“I haven’t heard one person stand up here and support you guys,” he told the council. “It’s you guys as a governing body against all of us.
“The people have been speaking about this for well over a month now.”
The mayor tried to rule him out of order.
Crerar kept talking, saying, “I have 52 seconds left.”
Public comments are limited to three minutes.
Crerar finished and sat down as the crowd again clapped.
Many who spoke asked the council to postpone a final vote.
The Public Voice
Chelsea McCort, who works for WY fresh farm, was one.
“I hope that the sheer number of speakers helps illustrate to you how important this is to the community,” she said.
“The thing that we need … is time. That is the one specific element that is missing from this whole process, is time. And that is the thing that you, city council, can provide for us.”
If the council chose to proceed with annexing, McCort said, it would ignore the fact that there are problems with annexing WY fresh as it is today. And the council, she said, would be “ignoring the loud voice of the public.”
Multiple Amendments
Multiple council members suggested various amendments through the course of the public debate. At times even members of the council showed confusion as to which amendment or amendment to an amendment was being discussed.
Amendments to annex all parcels listed in the proposed ordinance in 2027 and postpone the third reading for three months failed.
WY fresh farm’s legal counsel, Gay Woodhouse, suggested that the council consider an amendment to postpone the third reading of the annexation for eight months.
An eight-month delay would allow the Kniseleys to start their 2026 farming season — something that Tommie Kniseley said she is a month and a half behind on because of this annexation issue. It would also allow the city to solidify its definition of urban farming.
Bloom previously said the Planning and Development Department collaborated with the mayor’s office to come up with a specific definition of an urban farm. That definition was not yet codified in city code, he said, but it will be “as soon as possible.”
Cost of Postponement
The vote to postpone comes at a cost, said Bloom.
“It would divert a lot of staff resources,” he told the council Monday.
Other city projects, such as updating the city’s landscape code, clarifying rules around horse racing and developing a comprehensive plan, which was budged for this year, would be delayed.
Collins clarified that if the amendment to postpone for 8 months passed, the ordinance would go back to the Public Services Committee on Nov. 3, one week before the regularly scheduled November city council meeting.
The ordinance would then land back on the city council for the third reading on Nov. 9.
“We don’t start all over again,” Collins said.
A Compromise?
Nearly five hours into the meeting, as the council prepared to vote on the amendment, member Dr. Kathy Emmons assured members of the public still in attendance that no one on the council wants WY fresh farm to fail.
"The whole goal is to allow them to continue to operate the same business they have with the potential to grow it in the city. It is not to close them down,” she said.
“Please, do not walk away from here thinking nobody cares. Please know, we care about this business and these people.”
Council member Pete Laybourn suggested that what people saw through the process was democracy at work.
“This is what a compromise is about,” he said. “This is what we do.”
The mayor thanked Wyoming legislators for attending the meeting and said to the members of the public, “We’ll see you all back in your green shirts (this fall).”
Kate Meadows can be reached at kate@cowboystatedaily.com.
