The Utah Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Heber Valley Utah Temple case on Friday morning.
Attorneys representing Wasatch County and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints argued that county officials followed proper procedures in approving the temple through a legislative development agreement.
Robert Mansfield, the lawyer for the residents petitioning the court, asserted that the 210-foot-tall, 88,000-square-foot temple should never have been allowed under that condition.
That’s because the temple would be located in a residential zone where new developments may be 35 feet from the natural grade. Mansfield challenged how Wasatch County applied county land use laws, known as CLUDMA, which could set a precedent for special conditions.
“If you’re giving a county carte blanche authority to go in and do any sort of land use regulation at once without the possibility of any real review, then why even have CLUDMA?” Mansfield said.
A legislative development agreement is a “new animal” under county land use laws, Mansfield said.
Wasatch County has used a legislative development agreement before. In November 2024, the county approved the development of the 75-foot-tall SkyRidge lodge despite concerns from SkyRidge and Hideout residents.
The county also denied the use of a legislative development agreement last month. Wasatch County said “no” to Philo Development’s request to rezone 740 acres owned by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration.
The agreement is often used as a workaround for developers, though it can also benefit municipalities and local governments. Wasatch County can ask for things like more affordable housing or open space with such agreements, for instance.
Wasatch County Attorney Jon Woodard said there’s a “robust history” showing how land use regulations could be challenged. Meanwhile, David Jordan, an attorney for the church, said that if the county promulgates such a decision, then, by definition, it’s a proper land use regulation.
“That’s the beauty of the authority given to the county under CLUDMA,” Jordan said.
Jordan said the county completed the proper process for a legislative development agreement decision. There was a public hearing on top of multiple discussions on public record, he said.
Woodard added that there has been “no injury” in the decision to move the temple plans forward.
“We think that the problems that have been alleged are exaggerated and the sort of issues that we have in any development,” Woodard said.
Utah Supreme Court Justice John Nielsen said that this is not a “loss of view” case. Loss of view is a protectable right, he said, but it’s usually limited to property taken by the government.
“Where they’re redoing something on I-15, and they need to put in a new on-ramp or something and that takes away the visibility from the Burger King on the side of the road,” Nielsen said. “They say that’s a compensable taking. … That’s not this case.”
But Mansfield argued that petitioners will have their own view obstructed by the temple.
Mansfield added that there are a “number of violations” to the General Plan that bring back the idea of particularized injury and what can and cannot be done. That includes the amount of water used for the temple.
A 2023 groundwater study showed that the church may need to pump up to 1 million gallons of water every day to prepare the site.
The idea that the well-lit temple would not follow lighting standards was previously dropped. Save Wasatch Back Dark Skies abandoned its lawsuit against Wasatch County after the community’s dark skies codes were changed at the church’s recommendation to satisfy its Heber Valley Utah Temple project.
The Heber Valley Utah Temple case began in 2023 when a group of Red Ledges neighbors — Bruce Van Dusen, Bruce Quade, Shawn Savarino and Dominic Savarino — argued that the county acted illegally when it approved development plans for the church.
Van Dusen spoke out on the topic on Monday. He said that the group is not “challenging anyone’s right to develop their property” but that the same rules should “apply to everyone.”
“The LDS church has the right to build on the lot in question,” Van Dusen said. “But the building, like all other buildings in Wasatch County, must conform to the height restrictions laid out in the county’s zoning laws and General Plan.”
The church is already under construction; the groundbreaking was in August. The Utah Supreme Court ruled in February that construction could continue after years of legal back-and-forth and a previous stall on construction issued by Fourth District Court Judge Jennifer Mabey, who originally presided over the case.
In December 2025, Utah Supreme Court Justice Paige Petersen, who presided over the court, asked her fellow justices to analyze a “balancing of the harms.” Then, Jordan said that if the temple did not align with CLUDMA, it would be demolished later.
That is the “church’s risk,” he said.
If the court rules in favor of the Red Ledges residents, the church may be ordered to halt construction and bear the cost of restoring the site to its previous condition. However, it could take weeks or months for a written opinion to be released.