Cheyenne City Council delays farm annexation vote 

CHEYENNE — The Cheyenne City Council chamber was nearly full Monday night with more than 60 supporters clad in green in support of WY Fresh Farm and Farmstand and its effort to delay annexation into the city limits.

More than four hours later, their efforts proved successful, as council members voted to postpone annexation of WY Fresh and another urban farm until this fall.

WY Fresh Farm and Farmstand, located at 200 Walterscheid Blvd., is among the last group of county pockets to be annexed into the city. The council began systematically annexing county pockets — pieces of land that are 75-100% surrounded by city land — in 2022.

WY Fresh owners and community supporters have spent weeks fighting the council on the annexations, with owners Tommie and David Kniseley maintaining that city officials have been unclear about how annexation will affect farm operations.

Around three weeks ago, the Kniseley family sent the city a list of 143 questions regarding operations in the city, which were answered March 2. However, the Kniseleys posted on the WY Fresh Facebook page that some answers to those questions were still unclear or felt incomplete.

As a result, the Kniseleys continued to rally the public to fight for the farm — and fight they did.

At Monday’s meeting, 51 community members came forward to make comment, and not one person was in favor of the annexations.

The sentiment was clear: Farm supporters all stated that annexation at this time is unfair and rushed, and some members of the city council have treated the people involved negatively.

Donnie Crerar, who has attended almost all meetings regarding the annexations, said he is “appalled and shocked” at the way some council members have behaved.

“You very clearly had a plan from the start until now that no matter what, hell or high water, you were going to annex these properties,” Crerar said to the council.

“… You guys put a rift (between us) even more. We respect that you guys have a tough job. We really do. But when you don’t clearly listen to the voice of the people, it pisses me off,” Crerar continued.

Most other people who made comments said the same — that the public was not being listened to. Others, like Cheyenne resident Steven Love, said the annexations are a “shining example of systemic overreach.”

After the public comment period closed, members of the council began discussing amendments and substitutes to the annexation ordinance.

First, Councilman Mark Moody moved to amend the ordinance by a substitute dated March 2 that would completely remove the WY Fresh property and the other urban farm property from the group of annexations being considered.

However, that substitute failed.

Immediately following that, Councilwoman Michelle Aldrich moved to divide the ordinance so that the two urban farm properties could be voted on separately from the other properties to be annexed. That motion also failed.

Piggybacking off Aldrich’s motion, Moody then moved to amend the entire annexation ordinance to state the annexation would not take effect until March 10, 2027. This failed unanimously due to opposition from David Kniseley, who said adding more time does not give city officials any incentive to work with the families on what will happen after annexation.

“As I understand the amendment, it’s a future effective date, which is effectively declaring us married, whether we consent or don’t consent on a future date,” David said. “I object to that. It’s disrespectful to my rights to say yes to matrimony.”

After two more amendments, the council ultimately settled on postponing the entire ordinance until Nov. 9, meaning it would come back before the council’s Public Services Committee on third reading Nov. 2, and then to the full council for a final vote a week later — essentially picking up where the council left off Monday.

“I think this gives staff the time to get this process in order,” said Councilman Jeff White. “It gives the Kniseleys the flexibility to conduct their farming operations for the season.”

The motion to postpone the vote until November passed unanimously.

This story was published on March 11, 2026.