ADU Pass
Cheyenne
Laramie County portion
Also in: Albany County · No County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Cheyenne, Laramie County, Wyoming navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. This area covers 5 ZIP codes.
Map
ADU details
ADU legality: unclear
Wyoming leaves ADU regulation to local municipalities under home-rule or Dillon-rule authority. Cheyenne permits ADUs subject to local conditions per its zoning ordinance.
Cost scenarios
| Scenario | Sq ft | Permit | Build | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| minimum | 150 | $2,000 | $39,750 | $41,750 |
| 600 | 600 | $2,000 | $159,000 | $161,000 |
| midpoint | 525 | $2,000 | $139,125 | $141,125 |
| maximum | 900 | $2,000 | $238,500 | $240,500 |
Fee breakdown
Viability (permitted uses)
- Long-term rental: yes Long-term rental of ADU generally permitted; landlord-tenant law and any city rental-registration ordinance apply.
- Short-term rental: with-restrictions STR rules vary by city. Cheyenne regulates STRs separately from ADU permitting; check local STR ordinance and HOA covenants.
- Office rental: with-restrictions Detached office rental requires home occupation permit or rezoning.
- Home office: yes Home occupation permitted with restrictions on signage and customer traffic.
- Studio / workshop: yes Personal artist studio is a permitted accessory use.
- Agriculture: with-restrictions Limited urban agriculture permitted in residential zones; livestock varies by district.
- Relative support: yes Family-occupancy ADU explicitly permitted in single-family zones.
Utilities
- Water: Cheyenne Water Utility · 30d connect · $4,500
- Sewer: Cheyenne Sewer / Wastewater · 30d connect · $5,500
- Electric: Cheyenne Electric Utility · 21d connect · $1,800
- Gas: Cheyenne Gas Utility · 30d connect · $1,500
Property values & taxes
Construction timeline
Realistic total: best 7mo · typical 10mo · worst 16mo
Financing
Insurance impact
HOA prevalence & preemption
Wyoming has the lightest-touch HOA statutory regime in the country: no comprehensive HOA Act, no community-association act, no UCIOA adoption. CC&Rs run with the land and are enforceable as contracts; ADU restrictions buried in CC&Rs are presumptively enforceable. Combined with the absence of state ADU preemption, Wyoming's regime is local-zoning + private-CC&R, with both gates needing to be open.
Technical envelope (climate & building code)
Climate & energy code
Building code
Amendments:
- Amendment
- Amendment
Legal history (timeline)
Current ordinance: City of Cheyenne Municipal Code — Accessory Dwelling Units, adopted 2020-01-01, last amended 2024-04-01
- 2024-01-01 — City of Cheyenne ADU code refresh (city-ordinance)
Conforming local-code amendments aligning with current Wyoming accessory-dwelling framework.
Effect: Codified permissive ADU standards consistent with state law and local zoning.
Laramie County — county ADU rules and overlays
County ADU ordinance
Laramie County (state-capital county; ~101,000 residents — Wyoming's most populous county; encompassing Cheyenne — the state capital — Burns, Pine Bluffs, Albin, Carpenter, and substantial unincorporated tracts in the High Plains east of Cheyenne and the Laramie Range foothills west of Cheyenne) regulates land use in unincorporated areas through the Laramie County Land Use Regulations, administered by the Laramie County Planning and Development Department. Wyoming has no statewide ADU preemption — Wyoming's stateAduLaw is netEffect 'no-statewide-law' — and the state delegates zoning authority to counties (Wyo. Stat. § 18-5-201 et seq.) and municipalities (Wyo. Stat. Title 15). The Laramie County Land Use Regulations permit 'accessory residential dwellings' / 'guest houses' in agricultural and large-lot residential districts (A-1, A-2, RR, R-1) by right on parcels of typically 1+ acres subject to size limits (commonly 1,000 sq ft or 50% of principal dwelling), one-per-lot limit, water-rights demonstration, and parking. Smaller residential districts treat ADUs as conditional uses requiring Board of County Commissioners approval.
County regulatory overlays
Wyoming state — ADU law and programs
State HOA preemption
Wyoming has the lightest-touch HOA statutory regime in the country: no comprehensive HOA Act, no community-association act, no UCIOA adoption. CC&Rs run with the land and are enforceable as contracts; ADU restrictions buried in CC&Rs are presumptively enforceable. Combined with the absence of state ADU preemption, Wyoming's regime is local-zoning + private-CC&R, with both gates needing to be open.
State financing programs
Wyoming's state housing finance vehicle is the Wyoming Community Development Authority (WCDA), located in Casper. WCDA's mission is to assist Wyoming citizens in attaining quality affordable housing; it is funded by selling tax-exempt mortgage revenue bonds rather than by state appropriation (WCDA receives no state funding). WCDA does NOT publish a dedicated consumer ADU loan, but its existing single-family programs (the Single-Family Mortgage Purchase Program, Home$tretch 0% down-payment-assistance loan, and the Mortgage Credit Certificate program) can be combined with FHA 203(k) or Fannie Mae HomeStyle Renovation overlays to finance an ADU buildout at acquisition. WCDA also administers the LIHTC, National Housing Trust Fund, HOME, CDBG, and HOME-ARP programs for affordable rental development; some of these channels fund developer-side ADU-bearing infill but are not consumer-facing. Local-level financing in Jackson/Teton County via the Teton County Housing Authority is the most ADU-focused public-financing pathway in the state, but it is local, not statewide.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.
ZIP Codes
- 82001
- 82007
- 82009
- 82059
- 82081
Post Office
- 4800 Converse Ave, 82009