City of Cody sued for approving an LDS temple

Cody, Montana – A district court lawsuit has been submitted by the organization attempting to halt the building of a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints temple in a Cody neighborhood.

The petition to review the conditional use permit granted by the Cody Planning and Zoning Board in June was submitted on Monday by the group Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods. According to group spokesman Terry Skinner, they want to appeal the board’s most recent approval of the temple site proposal as soon as possible.

Skinner claimed that although they were hesitant to appeal, they believed the Planning and Zoning board had broken city regulations.

According to Skinner, there would be a number of issues with the church’s intentions to construct the temple in the Skyview community, including “traffic, taking up viewscapes in neighborhoods, dark night skies, and ignoring zoning rules of Cody and the Cody master plan.”

In a petition against the temple’s site, his group amassed close to 1,000 signatures. Building the temple, according to LDS church members, is within their constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion.

According to Skinner, his organization is not opposed to the building of a temple in Cody. They are against the Temple’s building in the Skyview area, he claimed.

The Planning and Zoning board’s latest decision is being challenged in court by the LDS Church.

A building permit has not yet been given by the City of Cody.