Fairview Renews Fight Over LDS Temple Steeple Despite Permit Approval
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A little over a year after approving a controversial compromise for a new temple proposed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, officials in the Collin County town of Fairview are launching a public campaign aimed at convincing church leaders to voluntarily reduce the height of the building’s spire.
Construction is actually already underway on the project, which will see a 30,000-square-foot building with a steeple reaching 120-feet high on an 8.1-acre site it owns on the north side of Stacy Road, west of Meandering Way. Initial plans had called for the spire to reach 174 feet, but the church lowered the height and made other concessions in their permit request, as previously reported by CandysDirt.com.
The town council’s 5-2 decision to approve the request followed months of public debate, mediation efforts, and concerns that a legal challenge from the church could impose significant costs on the town. However, many are still upset over the 120-foot height in a part of town largely zoned for 1-acre ranches with a height restriction of 35 feet.
Last month, Mayor John Hubbard asked the church to voluntarily lower the steeple height. Acknowledging it had the legal right to build what the town authorized, he said bringing down the height could help heal tensions in the town, where some feel the town was forced to accept the permit application under the threat of legal action.
“Instead of being a symbol of hope and warmth or symbol of peace, it’s going to become a reminder of the forcefulness that was behind that,” Hubbard told NBC 5 at the time.
Church leaders turned down Hubbard’s request, though, noting that they “already made very significant concessions” and that architectural decisions for a house of worship should be the purview of the faith community and not local government.
Now, the town is launching a public-awareness campaign aimed at persuading church leaders to reduce the spire’s height. Fairview Town Council recently approved the use of taxpayer money to support the effort, hiring David Margulies, president of Addison-based The Margulies Communications Group, to help with the campaign, which will include a website, signs and other outreach intended to encourage church leaders to reconsider the design.
“It’s not to attack the church, it’s not to get in a big fight,” Marguiles told The Dallas Morning News. “It’s just to say, ‘do the right thing.’”
Town officials claim the campaign is not intended as an attack on the church or its beliefs. Instead, they say it is an effort to communicate ongoing community concerns about the temple’s visual impact on the small-town country character of a community numbering around 11,000 residents.
Up to $18,000 will be used to fund the campaign from previously money set aside in anticipation of litigation with the church back in 2024.
Some local church members have criticized the town’s decision to spend public money on a campaign targeting the project after permits were granted, describing the effort as divisive and unnecessary.
“It is disappointing to be drumming up so much anger again,” said Fairview resident Holly Snow, according to KERA. “Especially from a place that we really love.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has around 95,000 members across North Texas who meet in congregations, but there is currently only one temple in operation in Dallas. In addition to the Fairview project, another temple is in the works in Fort Worth.
