A legal challenge to the construction of a Latter-day Saint temple in Cody, Wyoming, has come to a close, with the state’s highest court ruling in favor of the project, KPCW reports.
The decision comes as a similar controversy over a temple in Utah’s Heber Valley remains unresolved in court.
On June 13, the Wyoming Supreme Court upheld the City of Cody’s approval of the temple project, effectively ending a lawsuit filed by local residents under the group Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods. The court ruled that the lawsuit had not been filed within the required timeframe, allowing the previously approved construction to continue.
Construction on the Cody temple has proceeded despite the legal dispute, which centered on both procedural concerns and claims of bias. Plaintiffs argued that the city planner involved in the approval process—an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—should have recused himself. They also raised concerns about the planning board’s approval process, suggesting the 100-foot steeple was inadvertently authorized.
While the justices acknowledged that there was “a great deal of confusion in the process,” they ultimately concluded that the planning board’s decision was final and valid.
The situation in Cody shares several similarities with a pending case in Heber Valley, Utah. Both involve proposed Latter-day Saint temples that exceed standard zoning height limits and have sparked opposition from some local residents.
In Heber City, the planned temple is set to rise to a height of 210 feet and span 88,000 square feet. It is slated for construction across from the Red Ledges neighborhood on Center Street. Like in Cody, the project was approved through a zoning exception, a decision that has since been challenged in court by residents concerned about the building’s scale and visual impact.
Oral arguments in the Heber Valley case were heard in Utah’s 4th District Court on June 3. A written ruling from the presiding judge is still pending.
