Lawyers representing a group of Wasatch County residents wrote a public comment promising to file a lawsuit if the council approved the temple plans.
The letter claims the ordinance and development agreement are illegal and violate the county’s general plan and land use regulations.
Dark skies advocates also argue the county is too permissive with the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), a law that can shape how some religious buildings are zoned.
Attorney Robert Mansfield said the county misused the legislative development agreement to get around normal planning requirements.
“This is spot zoning, what they’re doing, and you just can’t do that,” he said.
The newly-approved temple will sit on an 18-acre site on Center Street, just outside the Heber City limits and across from the Red Ledges neighborhood. The building is planned to be 88,000 square feet and about 200 feet tall.
At the council meeting Nov. 8, members of the dark skies group said they were upset about what they called unavoidable conflicts of interest for many of the councilmembers.
The county attorney asked the council to disclose any ethical concerns, but Dark Skies member John Rogers said they haven’t been transparent enough about their ties to the LDS church.
“Probably one of the lowest points in the entire process was… their attorney asking them if they are on the up and up,” he said. “Come on. That’s ridiculous.”
Resident Cory Noice agreed.
“To try and pretend that you’re impartial, to try and pretend that you’re actually analyzing this from both sides, is a joke,” he said.
Councilmembers asserted their faith wasn’t a barrier to objectively assessing the temple application.
“I am a member and I do dislike the comments that I should recuse myself,” chair Spencer Park said.
Some commenters directly referenced the culture clash the temple project has put on full display.
“So many people have said, ‘Just move the temple,’” Mick Smith said. “Let’s just move Red Ledges out to the west, OK?”
Others said newcomers to the valley shouldn’t try to change the culture. The newcomers, for their part, insisted they love the Heber Valley and their neighbors.
But besides some comments revealing the community’s divide, many who made public comments described how important the temple would be to their practice of faith — like county resident Morris Tanner.
“It seems unbelievable. When that [initial] announcement was made, my wife got up from the couch and just started screaming. It means everything to us,” he said, choking up.
After nearly two hours of public comment, the county council voted unanimously that temple plans should move forward – a decision that delighted the faithful of Wasatch County but that will be challenged in the coming weeks.
