The decision from Judge Jennifer Mabey ends the legal battle over whether the county’s use of a legislative development agreement to approve the project violated federal or state laws.
A small group of residents in Red Ledges, the neighborhood across the street from the future temple site, sued the county in November 2023, shortly after leaders said the plans could go forward. The church joined the lawsuit as a defendant in January 2024.
Mabey heard oral arguments from attorneys for the residents, the church and Wasatch County June 2.
During the hearing, the residents’ attorney, Robert Mansfield, argued that the temple plans violated the Wasatch County general plan and the state’s laws for county land use.
Mabey disagreed Tuesday, saying those arguments were not well supported.
She wrote the county followed a legitimate method for approving a development proposal. And she said even if the temple plans were inconsistent with the general plan, that wouldn’t necessarily constitute a violation of the law.
She also rejected the residents’ claims that the development agreement amounted to “spot zoning.”
The residents also raised concerns about RLUIPA, a federal law meant to protect religious institutions from discriminatory zoning. Mabey said in her ruling she found that the county considered RLUIPA as one factor among many in its decision to approve development plans.
She also pushed back against Mansfield’s argument that a temple is “akin to a club,” rather than a building that will benefit the whole community, commenting, “The Court is hard-pressed to think of any church or business that serves 100% of the County’s population.”
Mabey wrote that although the Red Ledges residents might be negatively affected by some aspects of the new temple, the building can still serve the general welfare.
“It is the unfortunate reality with nearly any type of development that those in closest proximity will be the most directly impacted, but the Court’s role is not to substitute its own opinion about the chosen location for the Temple Project,” she said in the ruling.
With the lawsuit decided, the path is clear for the church to proceed with construction – nearly three years after the Heber Valley Temple’s October 2022 groundbreaking ceremony.
In a statement to KPCW, a spokesperson for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said it welcomed the court’s ruling.
“Since the temple site plan was approved by Wasatch County nearly two years ago, the church has paused moving forward with any construction, while the judicial system reviewed the public process,” the statement said. “Now the court has ruled that Wasatch County followed the law in approving the Heber Valley Temple, the church is looking forward to next steps in beginning construction.”
The temple will be built on an 18-acre site on Center Street. It will be 88,000 square feet, with a steeple stretching 210 feet into the sky.
