Fairview Texas Temple Construction Site Vandalized Twice in One Month

Police are investigating two acts of vandalism at the Fairview Texas Temple construction site after someone spray-painted political messages on a property sign twice within one month. Officers have not identified a suspect in either incident, according to a FOX 4 report published September 8, 2026.

Fairview police responded to the temple site at 681 E. Stacy Road on Sunday, September 6, after receiving a vandalism report. Investigators determined that someone had spray-painted the words “Trump is God” on the sign between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m.

The September incident followed similar property damage at the same site on August 9. In that case, officers found the word “MAGA” spray-painted on a sign.

Police obtained surveillance footage connected to the August vandalism, but the camera captured the incident from too great a distance for investigators to identify the person responsible. Temple officials estimated that replacing the damaged sign would cost approximately $300.

Fairview Mayor Condemns the Vandalism

Fairview Mayor John Hubbard condemned the property damage in a statement included in FOX 4’s report and said town officials had asked police to investigate. He also separated the criminal conduct from the town’s earlier disagreements with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over the temple’s design.

“The defacing of a sign at the site of the temple being built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is unacceptable, and I condemn it without qualification,” Mayor Hubbard said. “We have asked the Fairview Police Department to investigate.”

Mayor Hubbard acknowledged that the Church of Jesus Christ and Fairview officials had disagreed over the height and scale of the proposed building. He said those disagreements concerned the structure rather than the religious beliefs of Latter-day Saints.

“While the Town and the Church have disagreed over the size of the temple’s steeple, Fairview’s citizens have consistently shown respect for our neighbors and their religious beliefs,” he said. “This disagreement is about the height and scale of a structure. It is not about anyone’s faith.”

Mayor Hubbard called upon residents to reject vandalism and hateful conduct while supporting their Latter-day Saint neighbors. “There is no excuse for vandalism or hateful activity,” he said.

“Neighbors can disagree, but Fairview is not a community that supports this kind of conduct,” Mayor Hubbard concluded. “We solve problems through respect, good-faith dialogue and a shared commitment to being good neighbors.”

Years of Disputes Preceded Construction

The vandalism occurred during construction on a temple that has faced sustained opposition, design revisions and legal challenges since President Russell M. Nelson announced it during the October 2022 general conference. The Church originally announced the temple for Prosper before selecting an 8.16-acre site along Stacy Road in Fairview, east of an existing meetinghouse, according to Church Newsroom.

The Church’s original conditional-use permit application proposed a two-story building of approximately 44,000 square feet with a 173-foot spire. Some residents and town officials objected to the temple’s height, lighting, anticipated traffic and compatibility with the surrounding area.

Church representatives maintained that the property did not fit descriptions of a secluded residential or rural site. They noted that the land sits along a busy four-lane road, across from commercial development and between two other churches.

Fairview’s Planning and Zoning Commission denied the initial permit application on May 9, 2024. Church representatives later offered to lower the spire by 15 feet and change the temple’s name to reflect its location, but the Town Council unanimously rejected the proposal on August 6, 2024.

The Church and town officials then entered mediation and negotiated substantial changes to the building. The revised plans reduced the temple to one story, cut its planned floor space to approximately 30,000 square feet, lowered the spire to 120 feet and incorporated landscaping and lighting modifications.

Despite those concessions, disagreements continued after the mediation. A town newsletter included comments from then-Mayor Henry Lessner calling the mediated agreement “merely a starting point” and encouraging residents to send objections to Church headquarters.

The Church responded in January 2025 with a notice of its intent to sue under the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. As Chron reported, a second letter requested town communications and records concerning the permit process while reiterating the Church’s hope that the parties could resolve the dispute amicably.

Rather than immediately filing the threatened lawsuit, the Church submitted a new conditional-use permit application containing the mediated design changes on March 25, 2025. The First Presidency also changed the project’s name to the Fairview Texas Temple.

Approval Brought New Legal Challenges

On April 29, 2025, the Fairview Town Council approved the revised proposal in a 5–2 vote after more than a year of disputes. KERA reported that Mayor Hubbard, who served on the council at the time, cast one of the two opposing votes.

Approval did not end the challenges to the temple. Within weeks, residents organized as Fairview United contested the decision and argued that nearby property owners had submitted enough protests to require six council votes rather than five.

Town officials calculated that the protests represented approximately 18% of the land within 200 feet of the temple property. Fairview United argued that officials had improperly included neighboring land within the city of Allen and that the correct percentage exceeded the 20% threshold for requiring a supermajority.

According to a June 2025 Chron report, Fairview United filed a lawsuit in Collin County District Court seeking to reverse the approval or obtain a declaration that the council’s 5–2 vote had denied the permit. The group’s attorney characterized the vote as insufficient under the protest provisions in Fairview’s zoning rules and Texas law.

The lawsuit did not stop the project, and KERA later described the legal challenge as unsuccessful. The Church proceeded with plans for the approved one-story temple and 120-foot steeple.

Opposition Continued After Groundbreaking

After more than three years of public meetings, permit proceedings, negotiations and legal disputes, Church leaders and members gathered for a groundbreaking ceremony on February 21, 2026. Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt, First Counselor in the United States Southwest Area Presidency, presided over the event, according to a Church Newsroom release.

Unfortunately, even the groundbreaking did not settle the disagreement over the temple’s height. In May 2026, Mayor Hubbard sent Church leaders a letter asking them to voluntarily reduce the approved steeple from 120 feet to 68 feet, according to KERA.

Chron reported that Steven Bangerter, executive director of the Church’s Temple Department, responded that the Church intended to proceed with the design that the Town Council had approved. “In a good faith effort at reasonable compromise, the church has already made very significant concessions,” he wrote.

Fairview officials then escalated their effort to secure another change. In June, KERA reported that the town planned a publicity campaign involving a website and yard signs intended to pressure the Church into lowering the steeple.

“The whole idea really is to catch their attention, and then maybe they can be embarrassed into doing something,” Mayor Hubbard told KERA. He said the campaign would help with the town’s healing process by showing that officials had done everything they could.

Holly Snow, a Fairview resident and Church member of 15 years, told KERA that the renewed campaign was “disheartening.” “It is disappointing to be drumming up so much anger again,” she said. “Especially from a place that we really love.”

Church Leaders Emphasized Peace and Goodwill

While opposition persisted beyond the permit approval and groundbreaking, Church leaders continued to emphasize peace and goodwill toward the surrounding community. Their remarks at the groundbreaking focused on Jesus Christ and blessings for Fairview rather than the conflicts that had preceded construction.

“We pray this will be a place where all Thy children may come to feel a unique outpouring of thy divine presence, power, and peace,” Elder Schmitt said in the dedicatory prayer quoted by Church Newsroom. He then asked for blessings to extend beyond the temple grounds to Fairview and surrounding municipalities.

“Beginning today—and moving forward through construction and beyond—we plead with Thee for blessings to be poured out upon this community,” Elder Schmitt prayed. “We pray that hearts will be softened and that all Thy children will feel of Thy light, grace, and goodness that will emanate from this holy place.”

Bishop Nolan Godfrey, a local Church leader, also described the temple as an invitation centered on Jesus Christ. “A temple in our community stands as an open invitation for all to come unto Christ, who is at the center of all temple worship,” he said.

The two acts of vandalism now add criminal investigations to the temple’s prolonged history of public opposition, permit disputes, design revisions, legal proceedings and organized pressure. Police have not connected either incident to Fairview United, other temple opponents or any known individual, and their investigation continues.

Where do you land in the Fairview Texas Temple debate: can you understand both sides, or do recent events leave you firmly on one side? What would help Fairview move from years of conflict toward genuine respect between neighbors? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Holly Wallace

Holly Wallace is a writer and storyteller drawn to meaningful questions and overlooked details. Her work explores Latter-day Saint life and culture through faithful inquiry, inviting readers to pause, consider, and engage more deeply with what matters most.