Tulsa: August 2024 Archives

The Mormon Church (formally, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) is locating a temple in east Tulsa, on the north side of 51st Street just west of 136th East Avenue. According to County Assessor records, the 25.73-acre property was sold to the LDS by Memorial Drive LLC & American Southwest Properties Inc on July 10, 2024, for $3,825,000. The church news release says the building will be a single-story, 29,600 sq. ft. building. The height of the building and steeple was not specified.

An LDS temple is used not for regular weekly worship but for special church sacraments. Temples are closed to the general public, although it is typical for a new or renovated temple to hold public tours prior to the temple's dedication. Tulsa's will be the second Mormon temple in Oklahoma; the first is in Oklahoma City. The news release states that there are 53,000 Mormons in 95 congregations in Oklahoma.

The land is zoned OL, Office Low Intensity, which allows places of religious assembly by special exception, which requires approval by the City of Tulsa Board of Adjustment. Height limit in the OL district is 35 feet, but unoccupied steeples and spires can extend to 150% of that limit, or, with a special exception, even higher. Subsurface limestone, the Oologah Formation, which runs along a north-south ridge centered on 145th East Ave., starting near the Broken Arrow Expressway and extending north, has proved challenging to development in east Tulsa. I recall hearing that QuikTrip opted for a low-rise configuration for its nearby headquarters because the geology wouldn't permit a high-rise building.

RELATED:

A podcast discussion of a zoning battle over a proposed temple in Fairview, Texas. The link takes you to the comments of Fairview Mayor Henry Lessner, who defends the character of his town and of the low-density, large-lot residential neighborhood where the temple, 45,000 sq. ft., 65 feet tall, topped by 109-foot tall spire, was proposed to be built. His remarks begin at about 1 hr 25 mins into the video and runs for about 11 minutes.

In Cody, Wyoming, a proposed 101-foot tall, 9900 sq. ft., temple was approved by the planning and zoning board but challenged in court by neighboring residents. The Cody city council changed its zoning procedures after the fact, so that citizens could appeal planning and zoning board decisions to the city council, before resorting to the courts.