The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ plans to build a temple in Cody have been delayed.

A public hearing on the proposal — which had been set for Wednesday night in Cody — was scrapped on Monday, after the church withdrew its applications for the project.

However, an architect representing the church told city officials that the plans would be resubmitted this week, as the church would like to have the city’s planning and zoning board reschedule a hearing for some time in June.

Exactly what prompted the church to seek a delay was not immediately clear.

Wednesday’s hearing was expected to draw a big crowd, as the proposed location for the temple has drawn opposition from neighbors and others. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints picked a vacant, 4.69-acre site that’s just west of Skyline Drive, near Olive Glenn Golf Course and not far from a residential subdivision. The 9,950 square foot temple would also include an auxiliary building, a sizable parking area and a new section of street with a cul-de-sac turnaround. In submissions to the city, engineers representing the church have said the temple is set back far enough from surrounding residences, shouldn’t cause traffic problems and will “have a positive aesthetic impact on the surrounding area.”

However, around 20 people who live in the area contend it’s the wrong place to build and formed a group called “Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods” to lobby for a different location for the temple. They’ve cited concerns about the traffic that will come to the two-lane, dead-end street leading to the site, light pollution and the impact on the views of the surrounding mountains. They also contend the plans don’t fit within the city’s rules for the “rural residential” zoning area.

Houses of worship are only allowed in that area with a conditional use permit. Additionally, the city caps structures in those areas at 30 feet in height and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has requested a variance to the rules so it can build a spire that reaches 100 feet into the sky. Those are issues the Cody Planning and Zoning Board will need to tackle whenever it takes up the project.

Doug Peterson, a leader of the Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods group, suggested in a Monday morning appearance on KODI-AM’s Speak Your Piece that the project could set a precedent for the entire city. If the permit and variance are approved, “we’re very afraid that, ‘Watch out, it’s coming to your neighborhood next,’” Peterson said. “And it may be the 10-story condo building or whatever because there will be [a] precedent set if these things are negated so that they can build the temple. … And that’s a concern.”

The group has repeatedly said that it supports a temple in Cody, just not at this particular site, but the debate in local Facebook groups has at times shifted into critiques of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Local church leaders, known as the Cody Wyoming Stake Presidency, encouraged members to fast and pray on Sunday “in light of potential opposition to building the temple.” Stake President Andy Jacobsen and Counselors Dalin Winters and Craig Edwards described the public hearing as “a great opportunity to share truth with our friends, to teach what a temple is and how it blesses our lives.”

“If you must engage in discussion, please do so with love and avoid contention,” the presidency wrote on May 14. They invited members to pray for peace, for a way to be made for the temple to be built “and that working together with members of our community we can resolve fears and concerns of our community members.”

Church representatives from Salt Lake were set to answer questions at an open house on the project on Tuesday evening in Cody, but that was also postponed since the process is being delayed.

City of Cody staff have yet to release their assessment of the church’s proposal. City Planner Todd Stowell said he intended to issue his staff report on Friday, but held off after hearing that the church might request a delay.

The Planning and Zoning Board is set to have the final say on the church’s applications, Stowell said. If an entity disagrees with the board’s ultimate decision, he said they would have the option of appealing in Park County’s District Court.

The city has not yet picked a new date for the public hearing.