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Heber City Council candidates speculate on new temple location

The Salt Lake Temple, at Temple Square, in Salt Lake City.
Associated Press
/
AP
The Salt Lake Temple, at Temple Square, in Salt Lake City.

With Heber City named as one of the locations for a new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints temple, some City Council candidates speculated on exactly where in the Heber Valley it could be built.

Heber City Council candidates discussing big-impact policy positions during a forum on KPCW Friday morning (October 22) fielded one question that not everyone had an answer for: Where should the LDS church build the new Heber temple?

Candidate Yvonne Barney had to laugh.

"Where do I think it should go? I think it should go wherever the leaders think it should go, I mean I'm not sure- anywhere where everyone can see it, let's put it that way."

Candidate Bryce Hoover also declined to speculate though he said he does favor having it in a more visible place.

"you know, wherever they decide to put it I think it'll be a great addition to the valley. But definitely where everyone can see it."

But incumbent Wayne Hardman, who’s lived his entire 72 years in Heber, was ready to name his preferred spot for the temple.

"Yeah, I've got my spot picked out. I think it should be up on the East side, up by what's called the girls' camp is right now, the church owns property up there, I think it would be a good spot for it because I think traffic would be alleviated up there, it would be kind of out of the way, so that's my spot."

And candidate Scott Phillips also had an idea for where a temple should go.

"I think it should be up on the ridge on the north side of town where you can actually see DV Jordanelle, since it'll be used by Kamas, Park City, Oakley, those communities, it makes sense to have it centralized on that end of the valley."

It’s a topic of speculation among Wasatch Back residents, since historically, new temples bring increased visitors, traffic and development wherever they’re built. With all of that could come increased property values in surrounding areas along with opportunities for investments and commercial ventures.

Other new temples to be built in the US are in Wyoming, Idaho and Texas.

The Heber Valley Utah Temple will be the twenty-eighth temple built in Utah and the first built in Wasatch County.

A site, a groundbreaking date and renderings of a design have not yet been released for the Heber Valley.