The Heber Valley Temple lawsuit is a challenge by a group of Red Ledges homeowners to Wasatch County’s approval of a 210-foot Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple in the Residential Agriculture-1 zone across from their community. A Fourth District judge dismissed the suit in July 2025, the residents appealed to the Utah Supreme Court, and construction is now moving forward at the Church’s own risk while the appeal remains pending.
Who Sued and What They Are Challenging
Within weeks of the Wasatch County Council’s unanimous 7-0 approval of the temple project on November 8, 2023,1BYU Universe. Wasatch County Council Votes in Favor of Plans for New Temple four residents of the Red Ledges community filed suit against the county. The plaintiffs are Bruce Van Dusen, Bruce Quade, Shawn Savarino, and Domonic Savarino, represented by Robert Mansfield of Mitchell Barlow and Mansfield.2Park Record. Judge Says Church Can Join Lawsuit Against Heber Valley Temple as Its Own Defendant The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joined the case as a defendant in January 2024.3Deseret News. Church Temple Court Motion Stop Construction Heber Valley
The complaint raises several linked arguments. The residents say the county used a legislative development agreement, or LDA, to bypass requirements that would otherwise apply through a standard conditional use permit. They call the agreement spot zoning, a special carve-out for a single parcel treated differently from the rest of the RA-1 zone. They argue the project conflicts with the Wasatch County general plan and state land use laws. And they point to concrete impacts: a 210-foot structure in a zone capped at 35 feet, estimated daily traffic above 2,000 vehicle trips, light pollution, and potential effects on groundwater and a nearby Heber City water source.
Mansfield has repeatedly framed the dispute as being about scale, not faith. “My clients are not ‘anti-temple,’ but ‘anti-size’ of the structure,” he said, adding that if the applicant were a secular developer, the project would not have been approved: “Had it been a Walmart, it never would have been allowed.”4Park Record. Red Ledges Residents Call for Appeal With Utah Supreme Court on Heber Valley Temple Ruling
Why the Height and the Approval Mechanism Matter
The 18-acre site at 1400 East Center Street sits in Wasatch County’s Residential Agriculture-1 zone, where buildings are generally capped at 35 feet. Religious structures are allowed, but normally only through a conditional use permit.5KPCW. LDS Church Counsel Says Federal Law Supports Proposed Temple Height The proposed temple is about 88,000 square feet, with a main structure just over 81 feet tall, an east-end steeple reaching about 142 feet, and a west-end steeple rising to 210 feet.6Park Record. Heber Valley Temple Project Information Released Ahead of Planning Commission Meeting
Instead of the conditional use route, the Church asked the county to approve the project through a legislative development agreement under Utah Code 17-27a-528. An LDA lets a county negotiate project-specific terms through a legislative process involving public hearings, planning commission review, and a council vote, rather than an administrative conditional use track.7Utah Land Use. Utah Government Relations Update County staff said the LDA let officials impose custom conditions on height, lighting, and traffic while reducing exposure under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which bars local land use rules that place a “substantial burden” on religious exercise unless they serve a compelling interest by the least restrictive means.8Utah.gov. Wasatch County Planning Commission Meeting Materials
The resulting agreement, Ordinance 23-16, approved the 88,000-square-foot, 210-foot temple, vested it under a lighting code adopted in April 2023, required road improvements including a Center Street roundabout, exempted the project from the county’s ridgeline and viewshed analysis, and required the Church to maintain public trails and post performance bonds.8Utah.gov. Wasatch County Planning Commission Meeting Materials The gap between the 35-foot default and the 210-foot steeple, and the choice of the LDA tool to bridge it, is what the plaintiffs are challenging.
On the federal question, the Church’s counsel Loyal Hulme told county officials that RLUIPA and the Utah Religious Land Use Act gave the county “good cause” to enter the agreement, and that where a structural element like a steeple has a religious purpose, the county is “required to comply with that religious purpose.”5KPCW. LDS Church Counsel Says Federal Law Supports Proposed Temple Height Opponents, including a separate resident group called Save Wasatch Back Dark Skies, countered that a height limit does not substantially burden worship, that the Church runs smaller temples around the world, and that the tall spires are decorative rather than functional for the activity inside.9Park Record. Church Looks to Legislative Route for Approval of Heber Valley Temple
What the District Court Decided
Fourth District Judge Jennifer Mabey heard oral arguments on June 2, 2025, and ruled on July 23, 2025. She dismissed the lawsuit, rejecting every substantive argument the plaintiffs raised. The only point she gave the residents was that they had legal standing to bring the case.3Deseret News. Church Temple Court Motion Stop Construction Heber Valley
On the merits, Judge Mabey found that the LDA was a “legitimate method” for approving the project and complied with state law. She rejected the spot-zoning claim. She held that even if the temple plans were inconsistent with the county’s general plan, that inconsistency alone was not a legal violation. She concluded that the county had properly considered RLUIPA as one factor among many rather than leaning on it improperly. And responding to the argument that a temple serves a limited group rather than the general public, she said she was “hard-pressed to think of any church or business that serves 100% of the County’s population.”10KPCW. Judge’s Ruling Clears Way for Heber Valley Temple
The Appeal and the Fight Over Construction
Mansfield filed an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court on July 28, 2025, arguing that Judge Mabey had not “properly construe[d] the required ordinances and statutes.”4Park Record. Red Ledges Residents Call for Appeal With Utah Supreme Court on Heber Valley Temple Ruling The Church began construction in late August 2025.11KPCW. Heber Valley Temple Construction Begins in Wasatch County
The residents sought an injunction to stop building during the appeal. On September 19, 2025, Judge Mabey, the same judge who had ruled against them on the merits, granted it. She found the petitioners would suffer “irreparable injury” if construction continued and was later found unlawful, and she pointed to a “higher public interest in ensuring that all land use decisions comply with the law.”12Park Record. Construction Ordered to Halt as Heber Temple Legal Back-and-Forth Continues She added that pausing work also protected the Church, because a lawfully built temple would then “remain so and not be subject to an order requiring its destruction or removal.”13KPCW. Judge: Heber Valley Temple Construction Must Halt While Lawsuit Appeal Pends
The Church asked the Utah Supreme Court to lift the injunction, and oral arguments were held in December 2025.14Park Record. Utah Supreme Court Considers Heber Valley Temple Appeal On February 5, 2026, in an eight-page opinion, Justice Paige Petersen allowed construction to resume. The court concluded that while some factors favored the residents, they had not shown they would be “irreparably harmed” by construction activity itself during the appeal; concerns about traffic, environmental harm, and light pollution went to the finished temple rather than the building phase.15ABC4. Heber Valley Temple Utah Supreme Court Ruling The Church had told the court that delays were adding between $7.8 million and $11.4 million in construction costs.16Park Record. Utah Supreme Court OKs Heber Valley Temple Construction
The ruling came with a sharp caveat. The Church is proceeding “at its own risk,” and if the residents win on appeal, it could be required to tear down whatever has been built and restore the property at its own expense.17Deseret News. Heber Valley Temple Wins Utah Supreme Court Ruling Mansfield highlighted that language after the decision came down: “We thought it was important to note the Court’s specific reference to the Church assuming the risk that it could lose on appeal and that it would then lose what it spent on construction, in addition to the cost of restoring the property to its previous condition.”15ABC4. Heber Valley Temple Utah Supreme Court Ruling
Where the Case Stands Now
As of mid-2026, the merits appeal before the Utah Supreme Court is still pending. As of December 2025, neither side had filed briefs on the merits, and oral arguments on the substance were not expected for months; resolution could take a year or more.17Deseret News. Heber Valley Temple Wins Utah Supreme Court Ruling Foundation work is underway at the site, and no opening or dedication date has been announced.18Church of Jesus Christ Temples. Heber Valley Utah Temple The Church is building with the understanding that an eventual ruling against the county’s approval could force demolition and restoration of the land to its original state.19Salt Lake Tribune. Heber Valley Temple Construction