Episode 71

Heber Valley Mormon Temple Location Challenged by Concerned Citizens

On this episode of Mormonish, we sit down with our two new friends from a concerned citizen's group in Heber, UT, to find out more about their goal, to have the new LDS temple relocated to a more appropriate site. As you watch the episode, you certainly won't miss the parallels to the situation with the Cody, WY Temple.

As background info, a new temple for Heber Valley, UT was announced at General Conference in October 2021. The site was revealed on September 19th, 2022 and a ground breaking ceremony with President Russell M. Nelson was held on October 8th, just a few weeks later. The temple will be 88,000 square feet with an elevation of 5,712.72 feet, by far the largest building anywhere in the area. Three times taller than the existing tabernacle in Heber, for comparison.

While many of us were lamenting the effect a large temple would have on the dark skies in this untouched area, most assumed that after the groundbreaking the temple had begun construction. This is not the case and a very active and organized group of citizens in the Heber Valley area are working hard to find a better solution and have the temple relocated to a more suitable area.

As Mormonish learned from a site visit with the citizen's group, there are big concerns about the present site including dark skies, water table issues, height issues, location in the flight path to a local airport, and more.

We learned a lot from our visit to the Heber Valley proposed temple site and we know you will too.

If you'd like to learn more or help financially, here is their contact info.

Email

Savewasatchbackdarkskies@gmail.com

Social Media

Facebook and Instagram - SaveWasatchDarkSkies

Facebook and Instagram - HeberValleyTempleInfo and HeberValleyTempleInfoDiscussionPage

Venmo

@Better-Location

We are conducting a T-Shirt fundraising here https://www.customink.com/fundraising/preserve-the-night-skies-in-wasatch-county-1?utm_campaign=desktop-campaign-page-share-v3&utm_content=preserve-the-night-skies-in-wasatch-county-1&utm_medium=social&utm_source=copy-link&side=front&type=6&zoom=

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About the Podcast

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About your hosts

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Rebecca Bibliotheca

Rebecca Bibliotheca is a mother or three boys, co-founder of "The Good Book Club," a virtual reading group for post and nuanced Mormons, cohost of "Mormon Media Reviews," and leader of the "Mormon Stories Book Club." She has a Masters of Library and Information Science from BYU and worked for many years at the BYU Library. She and her husband, Tom, also founded a youth theater program that is in its 19th year. Rebecca loves the theater, reading, film, spending times outdoors, church watching and iced coffee!
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Landon Brophy

Landon Brophy is the proud father of four children, two grandchildren, three ATVs and a boat. He's a former military officer, the co-founder of The Good Book Club, a reading group for post and nuanced Mormons, ann international manager for a global defense contractor, and a worldwide traveler. He and his wife founded "Utah Wanderers," an online travel guide to exploring Utah. Landon loves the outdoors, ATVing, boating, flying, reading, observing the "ongoing restoration" and second Saturdays!