Fairview planning commissioners recommend conditional-use permit for LDS temple with limits on height, lighting, sewer and coverage

FAIRVIEW, Texas — The Town of Fairview Planning and Zoning Commission voted April 24 to recommend approval of a conditional-use permit (CUP) for a proposed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple on an 8.1-acre site on the north side of Stacy Road west of Meandering Way, with specific limits on tower height, exterior lighting, sewer connection, impervious coverage and drainage.

Staff presented the application and analysis at the special meeting. Israel, a town planner, described the site plan and said the proposed building totals 30,742 square feet including a partial basement and would be sited behind an ornamental fence with heavy landscape screening. Israel said the project’s lot coverage is about 38.8% — above Fairview’s typical 35% limit for the RE-1 district but below a prior religious-facility approval the town has allowed at 42%.

Town engineer James reviewed utilities, drainage and traffic. James said there is a 16-inch water main on the north side of Stacy Road with capacity for the proposed use but no Town of Fairview sewer to the site; the applicant has discussed connecting to the City of Allen’s sewer system. James also described a detention pond designed to limit peak runoff to the predevelopment rate (two outfalls, combined predeveloped rate shown as 9.8 cubic feet per second) and summarized a traffic study that estimated roughly 869 one-way trips per day from the temple and concluded the site’s existing left-turn lane and local intersections would not meet signal or deceleration warrants based on the study inputs.

Attorney Richard Abernathy, representing the applicant, said the CUP “is consistent…