Phoenix Arizona Temple
| Phoenix Arizona Temple | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Temple at sunset |
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| Number | 144 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dedication | 16 November 2014 by Thomas S. Monson |
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| Site | 9 acres (3.6 hectares) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Floor area | 58,000 sq ft (5,400 m2) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Followed by | Córdoba Argentina Temple | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official website• News & images | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coordinates: 33°41′54.3″N 112°10′20.3″W / 33.698417°N 112.172306°W
The Phoenix Arizona Temple is a temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in the city of Phoenix, Arizona. It was completed in 2014 and is the 144th temple of the LDS Church. The announcement of the planned construction of the temple on May 24, 2008, came a month after the Gila Valley and Gilbert temples were announced for Arizona.
The announcement to build a temple in Phoenix came in part as a response to the high concentration of church members in the area and to help ease the load on the nearby Mesa Arizona Temple.
The original design of the temple, which resembled the Draper Utah Temple in design, exceeded the maximum height restrictions imposed by existing zoning law and required an exception be granted by the Phoenix city council. The primary issue was not the planned steeple height of 126 feet (38 m), as church steeples are exempt from zoning laws, but the temple's structural height of 40 feet (12 m). The exterior color of the temple was also changed from the traditional white to a more natural stone color in an effort to address the concerns of residents in the neighborhood.
The city council voted to approve the requested zoning exemptions on December 2, 2009. Local residents opposed to the construction mounted a successful campaign to call for a voter referendum on the council's decision, delivering the requisite signatures by December 31, potentially delaying the approval process until September 2011 when the issue could be put to a vote. After a series of talks with the opposition, LDS Church representatives announced on January 26, 2010, that the temple would be redesigned to comply with the zoning restrictions by limiting the structural height to 30 feet (9.1 m), obviating the need for any exceptions and eliminating the need for any further approval process. LDS Church representatives indicated that the redesign process would take between eight months and a year. The height of the steeple, building color and lighting are not regulated by zoning laws and it was unclear at that time if the steeple height would be changed with the redesign, or previous design concessions would be retained in the new design.
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