Sounding Board -- Robert J. Gartner

I feel compelled to write in response to two recent Daily Pilot

pieces. The first is an article regarding the proposed Mormon temple next

to the current meetinghouse on Bonita Canyon Drive (“Temple debate enters

cyberspace,” March 2), and then the Community Commentary letter by J.

Donald Turner (“Mormon temple will benefit Newport Beach,” March 21).

From reading the first piece, we appear to be in the midst of an

organized public relations campaign directed from Salt Lake City in an

effort to sway the Newport Beach City Council with the warm endorsements

of the proposed temple from both nonresidents and carefully selected

residents of Newport Beach. I fear that the voices of local residents

will be drowned out under this deluge.

While it is fine, and at times appropriate, for organizations to have

its members from outside the community submit their views on Newport

Beach issues, ultimately it should be the opinions of the residents of

Newport Beach, who must live with this structure in their backyard, that

should have the most weight.

Turner’s diatribe against the president of the Bonita Canyon

Homeowners Assn. only serves to deflect attention from the core issues

that Bonita Canyon Homeowners have concern with.

The concern of local residents is the immense height and lighting

scheme of the proposed Mormon temple. The top of the structure as planned

will rise 123 feet above the ground, which requires a special exemption

from city ordinances, as does the proposed lighting plan for the gilded

statue at the apex of the structure. This is roughly the equivalent of a

12-story building. Already there is an exemption granted from the

Greenlight Initiative in spite of the expected increase in traffic.

I am further concerned by Turner’s use of the phrase “divisive

intolerance.” Characterizing a different viewpoint as “divisive” is not

only inflammatory, but the use of the word “intolerance” suggests that

Turner wishes to claim that all opposition to the proposed Mormon temple

is based on religious discrimination. This is vitriolic and divisive in

itself. Such claims have no basis in truth or any place in a community

such as Newport Beach.

Let us have a healthy open debate about the issues, but first and

foremost this must remain a Newport Beach issue and decision. I trust the

City Council will acknowledge this and the opinions of Newport Beach

residents will not be lost under a marketing blitz directed from Salt

Lake City.

* ROBERT J. GOTTNER is a Newport Beach resident.