Las Vegas LDS temple returns to city agenda for another vote

James Schaeffer
·3 min read

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A 400-foot thin strip of Las Vegas desert over a drainage line appears to be the next chapter in the debate over a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it heads to city hall for a vote again.

The Las Vegas Planning Commission will discuss and vote Tuesday on a land use entitlement project request from the LDS Church for an approved temple site at the intersection of North Grand Canyon Drive and West Alexander Road.

Representatives for the LDS Church responded first to 8 News Now regarding the agenda item and described it as a normal part of the development process.

“The item is a land use entitlement request to vacate U.S. Government easements south of Hickam Avenue and East of Grand Canyon Drive submitted in response to a condition imposed by the City of Las Vegas,” an LDS Church representative wrote. “Such items are common during the land development process and are routinely included with other similar requests during the ‘One Motion – One Vote’ portion of the agenda.”

<em>An exterior rendering of The Lone Mountain Temple was released on Feb. 26, 2024. It will be the second temple built in Las Vegas by the LDS church. (Photo provided by The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.) </em>
An exterior rendering of The Lone Mountain Temple was released on Feb. 26, 2024. It will be the second temple built in Las Vegas by the LDS church. (Photo provided by The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.)

The LDS Church reiterated in its statement the Las Vegas City Council already unanimously decided in favor of the temple in July.

“Plans for the construction of the Lone Mountain Temple were approved unanimously by the Planning Commission on May 14, 2024, and unanimously by the City Council on July 17,” an LDS Church representative wrote. “The current agenda item does not change any aspect of the approved project.”

<em>A 400-foot thin strip of Las Vegas desert over a drainage line appears to be the next chapter in the debate over a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it heads to city hall for a vote again. (KLAS) </em>
A 400-foot thin strip of Las Vegas desert over a drainage line appears to be the next chapter in the debate over a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it heads to city hall for a vote again. (KLAS)

Brinton Marsden, a Lone Mountain resident, said he and other members of the community see the vote on the drainage line as a last-minute change which allegedly the LDS Church meant to include in a previous city council agenda before it was pointed out in ongoing legal action against the city by residents.

“During our court filing we found this federal easement and we included in it for judicial review packet in the courts,” Marsden said during a phone interview. “And I am assuming that’s how the LDS [Church] found it and they’re trying to get it withdrawn in the eleventh hour.”

<em>A 400-foot thin strip of Las Vegas desert over a drainage line appears to be the next chapter in the debate over a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it heads to city hall for a vote again. (City of Las Vegas)</em>
A 400-foot thin strip of Las Vegas desert over a drainage line appears to be the next chapter in the debate over a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it heads to city hall for a vote again. (City of Las Vegas)

Marsden said the drainage line, otherwise known as an easement, now stands as an obstacle for the temple’s approval.

<em>A 400-foot thin strip of Las Vegas desert over a drainage line appears to be the next chapter in the debate over a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it heads to city hall for a vote again. (City of Las Vegas)</em>
A 400-foot thin strip of Las Vegas desert over a drainage line appears to be the next chapter in the debate over a temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it heads to city hall for a vote again. (City of Las Vegas)

“It’s pretty much going to kill the project if they don’t get rid of the easement,” he said. “The city denied two other religious outfits who wanted to build big churches with steeples and were denied. Now the city is picking a church they support and that is a direct violation of the First Amendment in my opinion.”

The Las Vegas Planning Commission meeting is set for 6 p.m. on Nov. 12, at Las Vegas City Hall.

Divine intervention

On Sept. 17, lawyers for the LDS Church filed to intervene in ongoing legal action against the City of Las Vegas by the Nevada Rural Preservation Alliance (NRPA), a recently formed non-profit group, regarding the unanimous city council vote on the temple. The NRPA argued the city council and planning commission voted erroneously. Lawyers for the LDS Church petitioned to represent their interests alongside the city, arguing in part they could cite religious civil discrimination.

“The City could not assert the Church’s rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons, a civil rights law that protects individuals and religious institutions from discriminatory and unduly burdensome land use regulations,” lawyers for the LDS Church wrote in their petition for intervention.

In response, Evan Schwab, lawyer for the NRPA, said the LDS Church had a lack of standing and further outlined their arguments that the City of Las Vegas allegedly made errors and acted contrary to zoning law. The LDS Church’s lawyers argued against the NRPA’s reasoning.

For two months court documents show lawyers for the NRPA and LDS Church continued to go back and forth debating the reasons surrounding intervention by the church’s lawyers. A Las Vegas District Court judge has not yet made a decision.

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