An attorney representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made a significant admission to the Wyoming Supreme Court on Tuesday, agreeing with some of the court justices and appellants that the town of Cody’s city attorney gave bad advice to the Planning and Zoning Board, which may have led to inadvertently approving a 101-foot steeple for a new temple being built in the city.
“It was bad advice from the attorney,” said Brad Cave, attorney for the church.
The remark relates to advice Cody City Attorney Scott Kolpitcke gave to his P&Z board about delaying a decision on the question of the building’s height, the most controversial and opposed aspect of the project. Construction of the temple is currently underway.
Kolpitcke did not immediately respond to Cowboy State Daily’s request for comment.
Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods (POCN) is fighting construction of the temple in the state Supreme Court, appealing the decision made at the local district court level that allowed construction of the temple to proceed.
POCN argues that the board made its decisions based on false information and conflicts of interest, which should be considered as evidence in their case to block the temple. That evidence was blocked at the district court level.
The nearly 10,000-square-foot temple sparked controversy with its planned 101-foot building and steeple on an almost 5-acre piece of land overlooking the city of Cody.
“This community sat through four meetings and thought they were going to know what happened, all to have the rug pulled out from the end at the end,” said Deb Wendtland, POCN’s attorney.
Members of the church have argued that the temple is fully allowed under city code and was justly approved by the P&Z board.
“They followed all of the processes, everything that was required of them, including a wide variety of changes,” Cave said.
What Was Said
Kolpitcke had told the board at its June 2023 meeting that it could approve a conditional use permit (CUP) and a height exemption for the steeple as two separate measures. It was later revealed this wasn’t the case after the board already approved the CUP.
Supreme Court Justice Kari Gray agreed with Cave, saying “certainly that was a mistake.”
Cave concurred but also added that he didn’t see any evidence the board thought it had made a mistake.
Public records related to conversations board members had after the fact tell a different story, however, with two members expressing deep frustration about the advice they received. Former P&Z member Scott Richard told Cowboy State Daily in 2023 the opportunity to rule on height was never given to the board because the church then withdrew its height exemption request as a result of the conditional use permit approval, claiming it wasn’t necessary to have the height approved because of the city planner’s interpretation that the steeple is not part of the building’s roof.
Despite admitting Kolpitcke gave inaccurate advice to the board, Cave still argued that it’s up to governmental boards to make the correct decisions. Second guessing and appealing these decisions after the fact as the appellants Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods has done, Cave argued, opens up a Pandora’s box for fighting decisions made by boards.
“It opens the door to no finality,” he said.
Cave also pointed out that the board still gave final approval for the project despite this miscommunication.
At a meeting in August 2023, the P&Z Board then approved the site plan application for the LDS Church for the proposed LDS Temple, which was the final piece of approval for the project. The site plan application submitted by the LDS Church included drawings of the temple which showed a height of 100 feet, 11 inches to the top of the spire. The P&Z Board passed a motion to approve the site plan, and that motion did not include any conditions or limits on the height as shown in the site plan application.
Arguments Made
Wendtland has argued that former City Planner Todd Stowell’s participation in the approval process “fostered the arbitrary and capricious decisions” by the board and qualified as a conflict of interest under Cody city code. Stowell, a member of the Church, did not recuse himself from advising the board on the approval, but did publicly announce he is a member of the Church.
“He was not hiding anything,” Cave said.
Supreme Court Justice John Fenn agreed and expressed skepticism that Stowell was guilty of any “sinister behavior.”
Wentland also argued on Tuesday that the church dictated the zoning approval process and Stowell’s staff report for the project. She said the records prove that Stowell’s actions caused a loss of confidence in the process that he orchestrated to achieve a desirable result for the church.
Cave argued that precedence already exists in the city of Cody for approving large steeples based on the fact multiple other ones were approved for other churches in city limits. Fenn found fault with this argument.
“You don’t know that,” Fenn said. “You’re taking a leap too far there.”
Chief Justice Kate Fox remarked that she felt that both parties were in a “parallel universe” when it came to their arguments, while also expressing doubt that the members of the P&Z had their “eyes wide open” to the facts when making their decision.
Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.
