OK, Arizona experts, I need some help here. There are three temples planned or under construction or newly completed: Gilbert, Queek Creek, and north Phoenix.

My recollection re: one of these was that TSCC submitted a plan with no sidewalks, i.e. they were going to put a fence around up right up to the street without sidewalks, which to me seemed like a way to prevent future protest demonstrations. I don't recall whether the city allowed them to do this or not. I think it may have been Gilbert.

Does anyone recall this controversy and how it turned out? Thanks in advance for your answers.

There will/are 5 temples in Arizona...Mesa, Snowflake, Gila Valley, with Gilberty currently under construction and Phoenix getting ready for construction.

They're putting one in Queen Creek too? Holy cow. How many temples do we need out here?

I never heard about not having sidewalks, but I think they want to control the sidewalks. Found this here:

"The church is seeking control of the sidewalk rights of way along its property, but the sidewalks themselves will be dedicated for public use. "

http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/property-law-real-property-zoning-land-use/12838062-1.html

The link below talks about how they're going to put a fence straight to the edge during the building process because it'll make it easier burying lines and what not, but supposedly they're going to give the sidewalk to the town when construction is complete.

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=144802701747

Maybe the mormon elite businessmen like to retire in AZ?

They're crazy for building so many new temples and churches out there, it's insane! Those neighborhoods are as good as dead.

After the housing market collapse. Homes in that area are worth 1/3 or LESS than what they originally sold for. People around there are foreclosing or defaulting left and right; brand new HOA neighborhoods with so many vacant houses it's like a ghost town. Newer, younger homebuyers can now afford to buy nice, full-sized foreclosures in Phoenix instead of crowded paito homes an hour outside of town, so no one will even consider moving to that area for at least a decade.

Yet, they keep building? I was in Queen Creek the other day and drove past two new LDS churches WALKING DISTANCE apart, in the middle of empty DIRT fields and empty neighborhoods with builder liquidation signs everywhere. There were no sidewalks, yes - because the city hasn't seen a need to even build them out there! No sidewalks at all! I couldn't help but laugh, who on earth would think it's a good idea to build out there? They certainly won't have to worry about noisy neighbors, at least.

(I'm new, btw. Trollahstatus, nevermo, trying to get them to stop ringing my doorbell on a Saturday morning.)

OK, maybe it was Gilbert and maybe they only wanted a fence up to the street for construction purposes, then to be removed to put in a sidewalk. At the time they proposed it, it wasn't that long after Prop 8 protests, and it looked as if TSCC was trying to build a sidewalk-less temple with a perimeter fence to eliminate the possibility of protests groups being allowed to protest on the sidewalk. Almost like a new design prototype for future LDS temples to eliminate public easements around their temples so that the public does not have the right to assemble outside its walls.