The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints may continue construction on its Heber Valley Temple — despite an ongoing legal battle over the structure, the Utah Supreme Court has ruled.
If construction continues, Justice Paige Petersen wrote in an opinion issued Thursday, the church assumes the risk that it will be responsible for “restoring the site to its prior condition” if it loses an ongoing lawsuit over whether the project is legal under Wasatch County or state law.
In the opinion, Petersen wrote that the church “states that it is willing to take that risk.”
Church spokesperson Sam Penrod said the church plans to start grading and preparing to install utilities on the lot immediately.
“The church is hopeful that the appeal of the previously dismissed lawsuit will soon be resolved in its favor,” Penrod said.
The temple, he added, would “bless the lives of Latter-day Saints in the Heber Valley by providing a sacred house of worship closer to their homes.”
The legal battle over the temple began in November 2023, when people who live near the building site sued Wasatch County for approving the project.
The residents asserted the project would “adversely impact their health, welfare, privacy, and quiet use and enjoyment of their property,” Petersen wrote in her opinion, which was approved on a 5-0 vote.
Chief Justice Matthew B. Durrant and Associate Chief Justice Jill M. Pohlman had recused themselves from the case. Court of Appeals Judge David N. Mortensen and District Court Judge Camille L. Neider sat in their place.
The court allowed the church to intervene in the lawsuit as a defendant in April 2024, and the district court ruled in favor of the county and church in July 2025, according to Petersen’s opinion.
Although the residents appealed the district court ruling, the church quickly started construction on the temple, Petersen wrote.
The residents sought and won an injunction to halt the construction while the appeal was pending, arguing “they would suffer irreparable harm if the Church continued to build but then lost,” Petersen wrote. The church, wanting to start building immediately, appealed the injunction, the opinion stated.
In siding with the church, Petersen wrote that “petitioners have not identified what irreparable harm the construction would cause.”
“We are disappointed,” said Robert E. Mansfield, one of the residents’ attorneys. “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.”
Church plans call for a two-spired, three-story, 88,000-square-foot temple in the Heber Valley. It is one of 32 existing or planned Latter-day Saint temples in Utah.