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"It is our opinion that the 5-2 vote … was not an approval of the application," Mark Johnson, the attorney representing the Fairview homeowners behind the lawsuit, told the Dallas Morning News on Monday. "It was a denial."

The dispute appears to hinge on zoning laws. Fairview laws and the Texas local government code require three-fourths of a governing body to approve a proposed zoning change if 20 percent of property owners within 200 feet of the change submit a protest. That means enough residents could "trigger a supermajority" vote from council members, Mayor John Hubbard told Chron. In Fairview, a supermajority means getting votes from six of seven council members.

Immediately after, Fairview Town Council members said that property owners of only about 18 percent of the land within 200 feet of the LDS Church temple's 8.2-acre site protested the permit application. However, Fairview United argued that they'd sent letters on April 28 protesting the permit application for a temple with a spire taller than 70 feet. The group said that property owners of 20 percent of the land protested, and the town miscalculated the count because it included the opinions of individuals who own land that's part of the nearby city of Allen. Considering only Fairview landowners, the suit argues, means that property owners of about 21 percent of the land protested the temple project—which means the council should've rejected the permit application, the suit says, per the Dallas Morning News.

Construction is underway on the controversial Fairview Texas Temple, but debate over the height of its steeple is far from over...

The original proposal called for a 174-foot steeple. The church later reduced the height to 120 feet before the town approved the project in April 2025.

...Hubbard said the controversy still follows him around town.

“A lot of people in the town feel like it’s been forced on them, this temple,” Hubbard said. “That it doesn’t fit and it really, really doesn’t fit.”

...For comparison, Fairview Town Hall stands five stories tall at about 65 feet, meaning the approved steeple would be nearly double its height.

In a new letter to leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hubbard asked the church to voluntarily reconsider the steeple height again, pointing to newer temples built with shorter or no steeples.

In the letter, Hubbard referenced the church’s Yorba Linda, California, temple, which features a steeple about 70 feet tall, and a planned temple in Vienna, Austria, that does not include a steeple.

Hubbard wrote that while the church has the legal right to move forward under the approved permit, a voluntary reduction could help heal lingering tensions in the community.

He said he worries the years-long fight over the project could leave a lasting divide in Fairview.

“Instead of being a symbol of hope and warmth or symbol of peace, it’s going to become a reminder of the forcefulness that was behind that,” Hubbard said.

With construction moving forward, Hubbard said he hopes one final request for compromise could help the town move on.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has not responded to Hubbard’s latest request or NBC 5’s request for comment...
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/fairv ... z2iy1gnz0c