Two newly announced temples — the Tooele Valley Utah Temple and the Feather River California Temple — now have set locations.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced in a press release Wednesday, Sept. 25 that the Tooele Valley Utah Temple will be located northwest of the intersection of Erda Way and Highway 36 in Erda, Utah.
The press release also said the Tooele Valley temple will be three stories high and approximately 70,000 square feet. Construction will also build an adjacent 20,000-square-foot meetinghouse.
On Sept. 27, the Church released a separate press release stating that the Feather River California Temple site will be built at 1470 Butte House Road in Yuba City, California.
Similar to the Tooele Valley Utah Temple, the Feather River California Temple will demolish an existing meetinghouse in the area and will rebuild a new meetinghouse next to the temple.
More details about the Feather River California Temple are still under development. This temple will be just over 38,000 square feet. A construction date has yet to be set, but public documents are being processed to further the plans. It will be California’s eighth temple.
Paige Christensen, a Utah Valley University student from Tooele, said the announcement of the temple site is a joyful one.
“I finally felt how people felt when they heard their hometown being announced as a new place for a beautiful temple,” Paige Christensen, a UVU student from Tooele, said.
She said she was surprised by the chosen location.
“I thought it was going to be at the top of the mountain by the 'T,' but the Lord obviously had other plans and put it in Erda,' Christensen said. “I think it’ll be a good central location for people living in Tooele County as well as easy access for visitors coming from out of town.'
For Christensen, being closer to a temple means getting to experience a closeness with God more often.
'The temple has always been a place of peace and comfort,' Christensen said. 'You know as soon as you walk in that it is the Lord's house, and that makes every trip worthwhile for me and for so many others.”