OGDEN -- Mayor Matthew Godfrey is expected to approve final site plans today for an overhaul of the LDS Church's Ogden Temple.
The Ogden Planning Commission approved plans Wednesday for the facelift that is scheduled to get under way in the first half of 2011 and may take more than two years to complete.
The renovation by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will seismically upgrade the 38-year-old temple that's considered a "workhorse" temple and was built in 1972, said Otto Gehring, a project architect with The Richardson Design Partnership.
The goal is to make the temple more of a destination for weddings and wedding parties, he said Thursday.
The renovated temple will feature a more traditional block design that has been used in other temples, according to a proposal from the church.
It will be similar to the Bountiful temple, with four equalinear sides and a central steeple.
The exterior will be natural white stone and will be characterized by numerous vertical elements of stone, engravings and glass.
The temple and tabernacle will be surrounded with abundant landscaping to set a spiritual tone for those preparing to enter the temple, says the proposal.
A 10-foot-wide sidewalk will extend along the west side of the temple block to connect the Ogden River Project area to the downtown, said John Mayer, a senior planner for the city.
"It helps to make those necessary connections that are important to community development," he said.
In addition, the steeple will be removed from the tabernacle so that the building doesn't distract from the temple.
"The designers do not want the buildings to compete with each other," the proposal states.
"They are to stand alone on the block, and the temple is to be its own icon."
The tabernacle will undergo minor exterior work and the doors on the north and south sides will be switched out.
The south side of the building will have walls removed and a new colonnade established as an exterior patio that matches the north side.
An entrance will be added on the east side of the temple to accommodate a projected increase in weddings, Gehring said.
The existing parking structure will be replaced with an underground parking facility. There will be 485 parking stalls on the temple site, an increase of about 50 stalls.
There will be a new plaza on the west and east sides of the temple.
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