‘Keeping it Country and Not an Inch More’: Fairview Residents Oppose This Church’s 173-Foot Spire
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The Collin County community of Fairview — perhaps familiar for being home to the famous party house of acquitted ax murderer Candy Montgomery — is at the center of a controversy of a higher order. This one has to do with a Mormon church and its proposed steeple to heaven.
Representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) are requesting a conditional use permit on an eight-acre site on the north side of Stacy Road, west of Meandering Way. They’re asking for a 173-foot spire, which would make it the tallest building in Fairview and many surrounding Collin County towns. That’s the equivalent of a 17-story building.
Church spokeswoman Melissa McKneely told WFAA that the spire is religiously important because it is a “representation of something reaching up to the heavens and it helps us look to heaven and God.”
WFAA reported that a structure that tall “cannot be accommodated by town ordinances.”
At a June 4 Town Council meeting, elected officials agreed to defer the matter to Aug. 6.
Residents who live nearby say they don’t mind having a place of worship in their neighborhood. The problem is the incompatibility of the building height and the imposing spire.
“It’s way out of compliance and would be just massive for a residential area,” Fairview resident Karla Gant told CandysDirt.com.
Engineers with Kimley-Horn and Associates are representing the church in its conditional use permit request.
Organized Opposition to LDS Spire
Some local LDS leaders sent information about the CUP request to the Mormonish Podcast team and the issue was highlighted in a recent episode. The matter also has been covered extensively by Texas media.
First announced in October 2022, The Church of Latter-Day Saints wants to build the “McKinney Texas Temple” — though it is located in nearby Fairview — next to one of its existing meeting houses. However, Fairview residents have come out in force against the proposal, the Dallas Morning News reported earlier this month.
Currently in the planning stages, the McKinney Texas Temple will be the state’s eighth temple, according to a LDS website. The other seven temples in Texas include the Dallas Texas Temple at Preston and Forest, Fort Worth Texas Temple (under construction in Burleson), Houston Texas Temple, Lubbock Texas Temple, San Antonio Texas Temple, Austin Texas Temple (announced), and McAllen Texas Temple (under construction). The temple would be about 44,000 square feet and multiple stories. No groundbreaking date has been announced, the church website states.
The Fairview Planning and Zoning Committee voted in May to recommend the Town Council reject the church’s proposal. Mayor Henry Lessner has said he will stand by the P&Z recommendation.
“I can only speak for myself. I will never approve that,” Lessner told KTVT-TV. “It is just grossly out of proportion to everything around there.”
Fairview Community
The Town of Fairview was incorporated in 1958 with a population of 50. Since that time, it has grown steadily to today’s population of a little more than 10,000. But note the distinction, the city is officially a town.
“The community is marked by large houses on large lots, expansive open spaces, numerous horse farms, excellent schools, rolling hills, vast hardwoods, beautiful creeks, and the extensive Fairview Town Center shopping area and mixed-use center,” the website states.
The town motto is, “Keep it country,” so residents made T-shirts that read, “Keeping it country and not an inch more,” and wore them to an open house about the church project in May.
“We want them to get their church,” resident Inga Frederickson said. “They’re just not allowed to build it at the size they’re trying to build it.”
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The real backstory here and in many other small town communities across the United States is how LDS have leveraged the threat of RLUIPA and their net worth (collected as a qualified non-profit and managed under the veil of non-profit status) to bankrupt any community who opposes them. In some instances they have used their law firm to “legitimately” lobby city council members, financing their runs for election.
The use of RLUIPA would seem quite appropriate in this situation. It was enacted for the express purpose of providing protections to religious institutions against discriminatory and especially burdensome land use regulations that have been “leveraged” against them. Invoking RLUIPA does not guarantee acceptance of a religious institution’s proposal, but it does provide an avenue for the institution to challenge a “substantial burden” against its construction of a place of worship that meets the needs of congregants.
” . . . RLUIPA does not provide a blanket exemption from local zoning or landmarking
laws. Rather, it contains a number of safeguards to prevent discriminatory, unreasonable, or unjustifiably burdensome regulations from hindering religious exercise. Ordinarily, before seeking recourse under RLUIPA, those seeking approval for a religious land use will have to apply for permits or zoning relief according to the regular procedures set forth in the applicable ordinances, unless doing so would be futile or the regular procedures are themselves discriminatory or create an unjustifiable burden. While zoning is primarily a local matter, where it conflicts with federal civil rights laws such as the Fair Housing Act or RLUIPA, federal law takes precedence.” U.S. Department of Justice letter to State, County and Municipal Officials dated March 19, 2024
I find it interesting that the size of a temple and it’s steeple is getting so much push back and making so much news, spawning grassroots tee shirt wearing militia, websites, petition drives, watch parties and 5 hour long city council meetings. I’m sure if this was any church in texas other that the muslims, jews or latter day saints there would be little to no excitement. Let’s just be honest and call it what it is. These are magnificent buildings and the one in Dallas is beautiful. They had the same fight then that was built 40 years ago. Now the neighbors love it. The real estate around it is more valuable per sq ft the closer you get to it. I’ve run the comps. Looks like the town of Fairview voted last night to not approve the construction application so it will go to state, federal courts to be decided. It will all get worked out and the law will prevail and the circus will move and all will be good again in fairview.