Heber Valley’s temple trembles continue.

A Sept. 25 letter from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints addressed to “Residents of Wasatch County” touched on several of the hot button issues that have been widely discussed in the context of the church’s Heber Valley temple project.

“The planning and approval process has taken more time than anticipated, but the Church is now in the final stages of working with Wasatch County staff to comply with relevant zoning, development code, and ordinance requirements,” the letter states. “The Church anticipates that the temple site plan application and associated documents will be on a meeting agenda of the county’s planning commission in October 2023, prior to going before the county council for review.”

The letter says that although the project has been meant with enthusiasm, it has also been the subject of incorrect information that has “been shared on social media and in some news articles.”

It attempts to address several community concerns.

Light, water, traffic

“During the construction of the footing and foundation for the temple, shallow ground water will be pumped into nearby Lake Creek at the rate of 600 to 800 gallons per minute (GPM) which is less than 1% of the channel capacity,” the letter states.

After the construction process, it says a draining system at the base of the structure’s foundation “will initially discharge between 150 and 120 GPM, then will reduce to 50 to 80 GPM during long-term operation.”

The water cleared from the site, the letter clarifies, “will enter Lake Creek and will be reintroduced into the Heber Valley ground water system.”

The letter says the church’s draining methods shouldn’t disturb the amount of water pulled from aquafer wells due to the depth at which the systems operate.

As for lighting, the church ensured residents that the lighting will comply with federal and county codes.

The letter states that “because the west spire of the temple is aligned with the centerline of the Heber Valley Airport,” the Federal Aviation Administration will require the temple to have a non-flashing red light on top of its west spire.

“It will not be on during daylight hours,” the letter specifies.

Regarding lights not federally required by the FAA, the letter states the temple will follow the “recently approved Wasatch County Exterior Lighting Regulations” and will turn its lights off at 11 p.m. until an hour before sunrise.

“Those regulations were deemed one of the most progressive dark-sky ordinances for a county in the United States by Wasatch County’s independent lighting expert,” the letter says.

The letter also addresses traffic concerns, specifying that a traffic impact study was completed by Fehr & Peers and “peer reviewed and confirmed by Horrocks Engineers.”

This addresses several instances in Wasatch County and Heber City public hearings when individuals have been speculative of whether a legitimate study regarding the temple’s impact on traffic had actually taken place.

“The study found that the Level of Service for intersections surrounding the temple will remain at acceptable levels following construction of the temple when the anticipated certain improvements are installed,” the letter says.

Working with the community

Though much of the letter is devoted to addressing environmental and development concerns such as the ones mentioned above, three sections focus more on the church’s interaction with the local community.

“There have been many changes to the Church’s initial proposal to help address issues raised by concerned citizens,” the letter reads. “The Church has been operating temples for over 100 years and has excellent data on all aspects of temple use. The temple project has been appropriately sized to accommodate the needs of current and future members in the temple district it serves. The design has elements similar to other buildings and architecture features in the valley, and with its massing and steeple, is an architectural expression of religious faith and is intended to draw the religious adherent skyward towards the divine.”

The letter’s concluding sections invite community members to study the project and share their thoughts with their elected officials regarding choices that need to be made.

More details about the development will come one about one week before the project goes before the county’s planning commission, the document states.

Some individuals with concerns about the project took little solace in the message.

Bruce Van Dusen, a member of the Save Wasatch Back Dark Skies group, believes the church was too involved in dark-sky code amendments and is being treated with privilege by county officials.

Save Wasatch Back Dark Skies did not have a response to the letter before deadline.

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