Final approval arrived Tuesday night for construction of the Fairview Texas Temple, but it will not be the shorter version sought by either the town or the larger one needed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“None of us are pleased with this,” said Fairview Mayor Henry Lessner, referring to the town council, “but this is what we feel we have to do.”
Lessner and the council voted 5-2 to approve a conditional use permit allowing the church to build the temple with a steeple and spire that will rise to 120 feet above ground. Each councilmember who voted for the permit said he didn’t like doing so.
The decision comes nearly nine months after the council rejected the church’s original application to build a two-story, 45,000-square-foot temple with a spire reaching 174 feet.
The temple now will be one story with 30,742 square feet.
“We are grateful for the outcome of last night’s meeting and extend our sincere appreciation to the Fairview Town Council for honoring the terms of the mediated agreement,” church spokeswoman Melissa McKneely said in a statement issued Wednesday. “We know the temple will be a peaceful addition to Fairview and the surrounding communities.”
Before the vote, church representatives told the council that the smaller temple creates a substantial burden on the church and its growing membership in the area.
“The church is willing to make these changes even though it places a burden on them because its members’ needs must be met in some other way,” said Tom Coppin, a design consultant who represented the church in the meeting.
The church agreed to slash the temple’s size during non-binding mediation in November. One church member described the concessions as dramatic because they cut in half the temple’s capacity for endowment sessions, which include instruction.
The church’s application for the smaller temple was submitted in March with two instruction rooms instead of the original four.
“With the growing membership of our church in North Texas, we need another temple to allow our members to worship without being substantially burdened, and in my opinion, we need a temple considerably larger than the most recent redesign affords,” Allen Texas Stake President Daniel Trythall said.
Trythall was the first of 44 people to comment during a 140-minute public hearing. A total of 25 expressed support for the church’s application for the temple with a spire of 120 feet, while 19 urged the council to limit it to 68 feet, 3 inches.
The town council then met in a closed, executive session for an hour before emerging to make a decision its members disliked.
Lessner said he was angry, but he and other councilmembers said town attorneys told them they were unlikely to prevail if the church sued and that it could cost the town millions in legal fees. They said they had a fiduciary responsibility to the town to vote for the 120-foot height.
“There are things I’d like to say. As a Christian, I choose not to say them. We believe we are doing what’s best for the town. God help us,” councilman Gregg Custer said.
Last week, the Fairview Planning and Zoning Commission approved the conditional use permit, but set a condition that the temple’s spire be limited to 68 feet, 3 inches. That is the same height as the spire on the Latter-day Saint meetinghouse and chapel adjacent to the temple property. It is the tallest steeple in Fairview.
“The temple is not a chapel, and the religious and architectural design purposes for the building are not met if the steeple and spire are limited to 68 feet and 3 inches,” Coppin told the council on behalf of the church.
The planning and zoning commission also sought to require the church to turn off the temple’s exterior lighting between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. and on Sundays, Mondays and holidays, when the temple is not in operation.
On Tuesday, church officials agreed to turn off the exterior lights each night, and the town council agreed to allow them to be used 365 days a year.
Coppin said the church’s lighting plan for the temple conforms with all of Fairview’s dark skies ordinances, which the town engineer confirmed.
Coppin noted at the beginning of the evening that the church’s First Presidency had announced Monday it would rename the temple after months of consideration. The temple originally was known as the McKinney Texas Temple, named for a larger neighboring city.
The zoning ordinance for the temple site limits the height of homes to 35 feet. It does not restrict the height of churches in the zone. The church agreed to lower the inhabitable roof height to 32 feet.
“I hope a future council will change the ordinance and establish a maximum height for a church so no other council has to face this again,” councilmember Ricardo Doi said.
Nearly two dozen people opposed to the taller spire attended the meeting, many wearing green t-shirts with the slogan, “Fairview United: Keepin’ it country.”
A Latter-day Saint woman who supported the taller spire said tall spires fit the region. The church has pointed out that many spires, some as tall or taller than 120 feet, stand atop churches in the neighboring cities of McKinney and Allen.
“What is more small town than a skyline dotted by steeples?” she said.
People on both sides repeatedly said they were surprised they were arguing over a thin spire.
Several people expressed a desire for an end to the impasse so the sides can get back to working together.
Trythall said Latter-day Saints will join next month’s annual Change the World Allen service weekend founded by Lessner’s church, the First United Methodist Church in Allen, Texas. Change the World mobilizes residents of Fairview, Allen and Lucas to provide food, clothing, yardwork, home repair and more for their neighbors.