HEBER CITY, Utah — A controversial temple development proposed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be formally reviewed by the Wasatch County Planning Commission during a public hearing on Wednesday.
Last week, a 130-page staff report was released ahead of the meeting, which detailed project site plans and the LDS Church’s requested legislative development agreement with Wasatch County. The agreement calls for the county to work with them to address certain aspects of the project.
The church wants to build an 88,000-square-foot temple on 1400 E. Center Street in Heber City. It would have a 210-foot steeple and include 454 parking spaces.
“It’s not every day that we get a temple built in our county, and our code is not geared to handle the unique attributes of a structure like that,” explained Wasatch County Manager Dustin Grabau.
In fact, this would be the first temple applied for in Wasatch County. For that reason, Grabau says since 2022, they’ve been reviewing the project’s potential impacts on lighting, groundwater, traffic, and other neighborhood concerns.
“As a concerned group of residents, we’re concerned about primarily two things: the location and size of the temple,” said Lisa Bahash, the co-founder of Save Wasatch Back Dark Skies.
The group is primarily comprised of people who live within a mile of the temple’s proposed site. They’ve been outspoken about the location since it was formally announced in 2022.
The group sent FOX 13 News this letter from their attorneys on Tuesday. It discusses why they’re opposed to the aforementioned development agreement. They also identify other project aspects that they believe aren’t adequately addressed by county officials among other matters.
When FOX 13 News asked the LDS Church for comment ahead of Wednesday’s planning meeting, they referred us to a letter they sent to Wasatch County residents in September that addressed concerns with lighting, groundwater, traffic, and other issues relating to the process.
“We’re OK with a smaller structure, something that fits the character, the rural nature of this area,” explained Bahash. “We’re hopeful that the county officials will consider the area and really think about the code.”
Under county code, the area has been zoned for single-family housing and historic agricultural uses. However, zoning allows churches and temples as conditional uses.
However, Bahash questions whether an LDS temple meets the definition of a “Church or Temple” in Wasatch County’s conditional use definitions. Instead, her group contends that it meets the definition of a “Club, Limited Membership."
Once the planning commission issues its recommendation, the plan will be sent to the county council for their vote on whether the project can move forward. That’s tentatively scheduled for Nov. 8.
Meanwhile, Save Wasatch Back Dark Skies says if the council approves it, they’ll begin the referendum process of putting a question on the ballot.
The planning commission will host its meeting at the Wasatch County Senior Citizens Center in Heber City at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
