After a three-hour hearing on Tuesday, the nine-member Colorado Springs City Council, with one member absent, unanimously agreed to allow the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to proceed with its initial development plan for erecting a new temple in the Flying Horse subdivision.

Loud applause and cheers broke out among the standing-room-only crowd for the long-awaited determination on an application church leaders had submitted last May.

“I’m very happy the Colorado Springs temple will be built as originally designed. I support it fully,” said Randy Helms, a former City Councilman who spoke in favor of the intended design as a community member, after the vote was tallied.

Local attorney Michael Kuhn, who represents Jennifer Kuhn, who’s also a lawyer and his wife and the neighbor who appealed the Nov. 6 city planning staff approval of the development plan, said he intends to take the issue further up the legal chain by filing a lawsuit in district court.

“The City Council reached their decision based on an erroneous (interpretation) of the law,” he said.

Kuhn stands by his argument that the church’s development plan violates Uniform Development Code requirements in terms of the height of the steeple and 24/7 exterior lighting.

The 33,000-square-foot main building will extend 140.5 feet in height, 95 feet of which will comprise a stepped back steeple, said Carolynne C. White, a lawyer representing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

A meeting house, a maintenance building and a pavilion also will be built on the 18.61-acre empty lot at 2396 Veneto Way. The land has been earmarked for use as a “religious institution” since it was rezoned in 2012 and acquired by the Latter-day Saints, also sometimes referred to as Mormons.

White argued that the project is 100% in compliance with the Uniform Development Code, with the church making accommodations to minimize the impact of the new temple in the Flying Horse neighborhood by reducing the proposed structure from two stories to one story and proportionately lowering the spire from the legal allowance.

The tallest 17 feet of the spire will not be illuminated, White said, and other architectural considerations were based on feedback from neighbors, such as camouflaging the structure with evergreen and deciduous trees.

Kuhn said in his presentation that the project is “clearly contrary to the Universal Building Code, which requires that it shall be designed to minimize visibility.”

Rather, Kuhn said the structure will dominate the upscale area and not fit into the community, which is nearing 2,000 homes, according to a speaker at the December Planning Commission meeting.

White also appealed the Planning Commission’s vote in December on behalf of the church, seeking to deny Kuhn’s appeal but uphold the Planning Commissioners’ conditions on exterior reflective material and lighting and more clearly define the steeple portion. The City Council did not stipulate any conditions on the project in Tuesday’s vote.

While Jennifer Kuhn does not object to the temple itself, her lawyer said, she would like to see the height lowered, as he said has been done in other district court cases.

During the public comment period of Tuesday’s hearing, several Latter-day Saints members said a temple represents the most spiritual place on earth for believers, bringing peace and comfort to a divided world and reminding everyone to look heavenward for sustenance and strength.

Several mentioned that the immaculately landscaped and cared-for grounds are open to the public and serve as a beacon of light to all.

A few neighbors who spoke in opposition Tuesday mentioned ruined views, concerns about the exterior lighting being too bright and intrusive, and incompatibility with the surrounding area.

“This is a huge impact; this changes the neighborhood,” an opponent told City Council.

Kuhn’s appeal and call for changes to the temple’s architecture raise issues of Constitutional rights and federal law, John Suthers, former Colorado Attorney General and former mayor of Colorado Springs, told the City Council.

He specifically was referring to whether the actions Kuhn requested would violate the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000.

The federal law protects houses of worships, religious schools and other institutions from discriminatory or unduly burdensome local zoning and landmark laws by preventing land use regulations that impose a “substantial burden” on religious exercise unless justified by a compelling government interest.

“The law dictates that local governments must take the least restrictive means possible, and regulation has to be judged by compelling interest, such as the FAA or AFA citing safety of aircraft,” he said.

“Building a church or temple is religious exercise,” Suthers said. “The architecture is religious exercise, including a steeple, which is tied to religious practice and symbolism.”

Colorado’s other temples are in Denver, Fort Collins and Grand Junction. Colorado Springs has 45 congregations where local weekly worship services and instruction happen. Temples are reserved for special covenant events and activities.