A judge has affirmed the conditional use permit for the Cody Wyoming Temple approved by the Cody City Planning and Zoning Board approved in June 2023, clearing the way for construction by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pending a possible appeal.
Fifth Judicial District Judge John Perry ruled that a 3-1 vote to approve a conditional use permit for the temple by the seven-member board on June 15, 2023, was a “valid and final approval.” He said in a nine-page written ruling that the city’s ordinances do not give the board authority to reconsider or amend a previously approved motion or permit.
The board amended its decision on June 27, 2023, adding a provision that the approval of the conditional use permit was conditioned on the church acquiring a special exemption for the height of the temple, which includes a 77-foot steeple tower.
Perry ruled the board didn’t have the power to impose that condition since it already had approved the plans for the temple.
“The subsequent attempts at modifying the June 15, 2023, agency actions were without legal authority,” he wrote.
Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods said it may appeal Perry’s ruling to the Wyoming Supreme Court, according to a Facebook statement.
The church issued a statement after the ruling.
“Since the announcement of a temple in Cody, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has worked with city leaders and listened to the concerns of residents to bring an acceptable proposal forward that meets local zoning requirements. The city approved this proposal in 2023. The church is grateful for this week’s ruling from the Wyoming District Court upholding the city’s approval,” the statement said.
The Church of Jesus Christ proposed to build a one-story, 9,950-square-foot temple on the northwest side of Skyline Drive at Cody Canal.
The city planner recommended approval because the proposed height of the temple’s roof was 24 feet, below the 30-foot maximum set in the city code for a Rural Residential Zone.
Some residents balked at the total height of 101 feet, which includes a 77-foot steeple tower.
The proposed house of worship would be modular, a recent innovation for Latter-day Saint temples. The Helena Montana Temple, opened last year, was the first modular temple built by the church.
The new Casper Wyoming Temple, a three-hour drive from Cody, is also modular. A two-week public open house for the Casper Temple began today.
The church has a building permit in hand to build the Cody Temple, and the modules are on the temple site, but leaders have chosen to wait to begin construction while legal challenges play out.
Both the church and residents who opposed the temple’s height filed petitions for judicial review a year ago. Perry heard oral arguments in the case in May. His written ruling was dated Monday and released Wednesday.
The church asked the court to determine whether the 3-1 vote, with one abstention, of the five present board members constituted an approval of the site plan and conditional use permit or if the proposal need four votes from the seven-member board. The church also asked Perry to rule whether the board had authority to amend its approval afterward.
Perry ruled that the approval by three of the five board members present “has the force and effect of law,” based on Cody’s ordinance, Perry ruled. He also found that Cody’s ordinance gave the board no authority to modify the previously approved conditional use permit.
Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods petitioned the court to review whether it was legal for the board to approve a site plan and conditional use permit for a 101-foot building in the city’s Rural Residential Zone.
Perry didn’t rule on POCN’s petition. He found that he did not have jurisdiction because he said POCN filed its petition after the 30-day window to do so.
The judge said the clock started on filing the petition on June 15, 2023, because he ruled the vote that day “constituted a final agency decision.” POCN filed its petition on Aug. 18, 2023, and argued that the clock should have started when the board amended the conditional use permit on June 27, 2023.
Perry did not agree.
“Even if the board were allowed to subsequently modify its June 15, 2023, decision, allowing the 30-day time limit to extend to any future action of the board would render the finality of agency decision moot,” the judge found. “The court cannot accept such an interpretation.”