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Wyoming Supreme Court rules that controversial Cody Temple construction can move forward

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Wyoming Supreme Court rules that controversial Cody Temple construction can move forward


CHEYENNE, Wyoming (ABC4) — In an opinion by the Wyoming Supreme Court released Friday, the Court ruled in favor of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the City of Cody Planning, Zoning, and Adjustment Board with regards to the construction of the Cody Temple.

The Court upheld the District Court ruling that Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods (POCN) did not petition review of the temple permit’s approval within 30 days, so the Court did not have jurisdiction to hear their petition.

POCN is an unincorporated organization of Cody landowners against the construction of the Cody Temple, according to the Court decision.

The Church broke ground on the Cody Temple in September of last year after Wyoming District Court made their ruling that POCN filed their petition too late. Construction has continued since then.

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PREVIOUS COVERAGE: LDS Church breaks ground on controversial Cody Wyoming Temple after extensive legal battle

An in-depth history of the Cody Temple’s legal battles

The Cody Temple was announced in the October 2021 general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It will be the third temple in the state, with others in Casper and Star Valley, Wyoming.

According to the Wyoming Supreme Court opinion, the Church chose a 4.69-acre parcel of land that it owned in Cody to build the temple, and in May 2023, it requested a special exemption to the height restriction of city ordinances. In addition, it also requested approval for the site plan and a conditional use permit (CUP).

The height restriction for residential zoning according to Cody city ordinance is 30 feet. The roof height for the proposed temple was 24 feet, but the spire would be 76 feet 11 inches.

The Cody City Planner argued that the Church did not need the special exemption because the roof height of the church was below the height restriction. Building height, as defined under Cody ordinance, “refers to the vertical distance between the average finished grade and the
highest point of the coping of a flat roof,” so under that definition, the proposed temple, with its flat roof (other than the spire), was not violating any ordinances.

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In June 2023, the Cody Planning, Zoning, and Adjustment Board (the board) met to review the Church’s proposals. They allowed “extensive comment” from members of the public, including members of POCN and its attorneys.

Five of the seven board members were present at the meeting. There, they tabled the Church’s request for a special exemption. Three board members voted in favor (3-2) of the Church’s site plan for the temple. The motion to grant the CUP was passed 4-1, based on the recommendation of the city planner.

The Board said that the motion to approve the site plan failed and voted to table it, but the Church filed a petition for review on the site plans in district court. It argued that the board made a mistake “as a matter of law” when it ruled that the motion failed, because the motion did in fact have a majority vote in favor.

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The board held several other meetings to review the Church’s proposals in June and July of 2023. In the June meeting, the board discussed their acceptance of the Church’s CUP. One board member said that they had “a little bit of a hiccup in the procedural side of things.” He said that they did not intend to accept the city planner’s interpretation of the height restriction, but by accepting his recommendation, they had inadvertently done exactly that.

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They made a motion to reconsider the acceptance of the CUP and once again tabled the site plan and the request for a special exemption, as no agreement was reached.

The Church then filed its second appeal with the district court, claiming that the board did not have the authority to reconsider the acceptance of the CUP at that meeting. It also alleged that they did not have the authority to reconsider and table the site plan after it was already approved at the June meeting.

In July, the Church withdrew its request for a special exemption. During the board meeting, they amended their findings of the CUP, and it remained approved.

The POCN made their first petition for review with the district court on August 21, 2023. They alleged that the board’s approval of the CUP during the July 25 meeting “was arbitrary and capricious, contrary to the law, and unsupported by substantial evidence,” according to the Supreme Court opinion. The Church then filed a cross-petition for review.

In August 2023, the board held another meeting, where they approved the Church’s site plan. On August 24, POCN filed their second petition for review, alleging that the board’s approval of the site plan was also arbitrary, capricious, contrary to law, and unsupported by evidence.

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The district court combined the petitions, and it found that the site plan and the CUP were approved on the June 15, and therefore POCN had not filed their petitions within the 30-day time limit.

Ultimately, the Wyoming Supreme Court upheld the district court decision, siding with the Church and the board, and the Cody Temple can continue construction.

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Slick roads, snow hamper morning commute in southeast Wyoming

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Slick roads, snow hamper morning commute in southeast Wyoming


CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Drivers in Cheyenne and throughout southeast Wyoming face slick road conditions and falling snow this morning, with winter weather expected to impact travel throughout the day.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation reports high-impact conditions on several routes surrounding the capital city. Interstate 25 and U.S. Highway 87 are slick with snowfall from the Colorado state line to Cheyenne. North of the city, drivers on I-25 will encounter slick spots, strong winds and blowing snow up to Exit 29 at Whitaker Road.

The Wyoming Department of Transportation’s road map showing conditions in southeast Wyoming at 6:30 a.m. (WYDOT map)

Travel on Interstate 80 and the Cheyenne Service Road is also affected. WYDOT lists conditions as slick with snow and limited visibility between Exit 335 at Buford and Exit 348 at Otto Road. Other local routes, including U.S. Highway 85 and Wyoming Highway 210, are reported as wet and slick in spots with snowfall.

According to the National Weather Service in Cheyenne, a round of light snow will continue to move through the area this morning. Most locations can expect a dusting to an inch of accumulation, though higher amounts are possible between Rawlins and Cheyenne.

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Temperatures remain well below average for early December. The NWS forecast calls for a high near 27 degrees today, with wind chill values between zero and 10. Snow is expected to taper off by this afternoon as a cold front brings drier air into the region.

The cold will deepen overnight, with low temperatures dropping to around 10 and wind chills dipping as low as 5 below zero.

Looking ahead, the NWS predicts a sunny but breezy day Thursday, with westerly winds increasing to 20–25 mph and gusts as high as 35 mph. The long-term forecast calls for an active weather pattern, bringing periods of high winds and chances for light snow through the weekend, followed by a gradual warming trend into early next week.

Detailed Forecast

  • Today: A 40% chance of snow, mainly before 11 a.m. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. North wind 5–10 mph becoming east in the afternoon.
  • Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 10. Wind chill values between zero and 10. Southeast wind 5–10 mph becoming west after midnight.
  • Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 37. Wind chill values between minus 5 and 5. Breezy, with a west wind 10–15 mph increasing to 20–25 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 35 mph.
  • Thursday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 22. Breezy, with a west wind 20–25 mph, with gusts as high as 35 mph.
  • Friday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 38. Breezy, with a west northwest wind 10–20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.
  • Friday Night: A 20% chance of snow showers after 11 p.m. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 22.
  • Saturday: A 30% chance of snow showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 40. Breezy.
  • Saturday Night: A chance of snow showers. Partly cloudy, with a low around 22.
  • Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 41. Breezy.
  • Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 26.
  • Monday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 46. Breezy.
  • Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 28.
  • Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 50. Breezy.

More on the weather is available at the National Weather Service website.



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Wyoming Troopers find kidnapped Wisconsin teen

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Wyoming Troopers find kidnapped Wisconsin teen


























Wyoming Troopers find kidnapped Wisconsin teen | News | wyomingnewsnow.tv

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I moved my family to a tiny Wyoming town for 2 years to save money. Despite the drawbacks, our brief sacrifice paid off.

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I moved my family to a tiny Wyoming town for 2 years to save money. Despite the drawbacks, our brief sacrifice paid off.


The moment my wife and I finished earning our college degrees, we were ready to leave Utah.

We’d been living in Orem, a city with about 95,000 residents, while attending school nearby. Now that we weren’t tied down to the area, we wanted to move elsewhere — ideally, someplace cheaper.

I’d started working as a remote freelance writer, so we were flexible on location and interested in seeing where my modest income would stretch furthest.

Most of all, we wanted to live somewhere that would help us save for a down payment on our first home. Eventually, these goals led us to a tiny town in Wyoming.

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Wyoming’s Bridger Valley offered lower rent, taxes, and gas prices


Author Christian Allred pushing stroller near grass

Moving to a smaller, more rural town was a great move financially, but it came with trade-offs.

Christian Allred



After learning about our moving plans, my wife’s aunt suggested looking in Bridger Valley, where she and her husband lived. We’re glad we did.

Located on the southwestern tip of Wyoming by the Utah border, the area had a lot of relatively affordable rentals, and we settled on an apartment in its small town of Mountain Valley.

Our rent was $650 a month — nearly half of what our existing lease would’ve renewed at for about the same living space. Both apartments were two-bedroom, one-bathroom units in a fourplex.

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Over the next two years, we discovered other financial benefits of living in Wyoming, such as not having to pay a state income tax or sales tax on most groceries. Even gas was significantly cheaper here than it was in Orem.

As a result, we were able to save more of our income each month.

But living in a small Wyoming town also had its drawbacks

Mountain View has a population of just over 1,000, and many residents work at one of the nearby trona mines, making them a hardy group. I felt like an outlier as a remote worker, and I only met one other person who worked from home while we lived here.

Meanwhile, though we were only a two-hour drive from my wife’s family in Utah, it was far enough that we saw them much less — maybe five or six times a year.

Compared to Orem, there were also fewer amenities: We had a gas station, a grocery store, a bowling alley, a tiny library, a handful of restaurants, and little else. However, we didn’t mind much, especially since we made good friends at church and in the community.

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The hardest part was the cold. Winter weather in the area basically lasts half the year, from about November to April, and temperatures regularly drop below freezing.

On occasion, the freeway connecting Mountain View to Utah was even closed due to dangerously icy road conditions. We stayed indoors a lot and missed Utah’s milder winters.

After 2 years, we’d saved enough to buy land in Washington, where we plan to build our first home


Author Christian Allred fishing

There’s a lot to like about small-town living, including how much we were able to save.

Christian Allred



Our move ultimately paid off.

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During our time in Wyoming, we saved $20,000 to put toward just over an acre of land near my family in rural Washington.

Today, we own the land outright as we prepare to have our first home built on it. In the meantime, we’re living in my parents’ newly renovated ADU nearby.

Looking back, those cold Wyoming winters and quiet weekends were worth it. We traded convenience and proximity to family for financial breathing room — and in two years, that breathing room helped us buy real estate.

Plus, we came to love so much about remote small-town living, like its slower pace of life and the friends we made. For us, it was exactly the sacrifice we needed to make homeownership possible.

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