You guessed it: It's an LDS temple - and it's coming to Draper.

"It's a simple but elegant facility," City Manager John Hendrickson said Monday about FFKR Architects' design. "The Idaho Falls Temple comes to mind, but it's not exactly that. It's a very traditional look."

It also has shades of the Bountiful and Mount Timpanogos temples. Beyond that, city officials struggle to describe the look of the temple, although they sure like its looks - and its upscale location on 12 acres at about 2000 East and 14800 South.

Whatever style it is, Mayor Darrell Smith sums it up with one word: "Beautiful."

"There's a lot of high-end homes there; it's a beautiful site . . . and it will be seen from the freeway," Smith said about the site plan the Planning Commission approved last week.

"It's going to beautify that hillside of Draper," resident Challey Smith said.

The temple will crop up next to 1,033 Corner Canyon acres that Draper bought a year ago to preserve as open space. And it will be tall, too, 166 feet high from foundation to spire top. Last year, City Council members revamped an ordinance that would have confined the edifice's elevation to 90 feet.

At 57,000 square feet, Draper's midsized temple - not as large as Salt Lake City's, not as small as Monticello's - will rank as the Salt Lake Valley's third temple. The Salt Lake and Jordan River temples are up and running. The LDS Church also has announced plans for a temple in South Jordan's Daybreak and one in the southwestern part of the valley - reportedly in the Herriman-Bluffdale area. The LDS Church operates more than 120 temples worldwide.

Draper's edifice will include 492 parking spaces and attractive landscaping.

To offset neighbors' concerns about lighting, city planners approved the site plan with the caveat the church would turn off the temple's bright steeple lights between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. There already is a church meetinghouse and parking lot on about four acres of the Corner Canyon site; the temple will fill out the remaining eight acres.

City officials say the temple is estimated to accommodate 2,500 visitors on Saturdays and much less on weekdays - not enough to pose much of a traffic concern.

Hendrickson said virtually all the feedback Draper has received about the temple has been positive.

"I'm thrilled to have it," said resident JP Smith. "We'll be able to see it from where we live."

It might take awhile, though. LDS Church spokesman Dale Bills said no dates have been set "regarding groundbreaking or a timetable for construction."

meddington@sltrib.com