Fairview residents filed a lawsuit in a Collin County district court Friday challenging the Town Council’s approval of a permit allowing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to build a 120-foot-tall temple in their town.

The lawsuit’s argument rests on one council vote, a few percentage points and 95,000 square feet of property in Allen.

The residents previously filed an appeal with the town’s zoning board of adjustment, a commission that reviews requests for changes from the town’s zoning laws.

According to Fairview’s laws and Texas local government code, a proposed change to a rule must receive at least three-fourths of the votes to pass if it is protested in writing, signed by the property owners of at least 20% of the area extending 200 feet from the change. In Fairview, this would mean six votes on the seven-member council.

Related:A timeline of Fairview’s temple dispute with Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The Town Council voted 5-2 April 30 to approve the permit for a temple after a year of contentious debate, a threatened lawsuit and a previous denial of the church’s permit request.

“It is our opinion that the 5-2 vote … was not an approval of the application,” said Mark Johnson, the attorney representing the Fairview homeowners behind the lawsuit. “It was a denial.”

On April 28, the town received letters protesting the permit application for a temple with a spire taller than 70 feet. Residents say the letters came from property owners of at least 20% of land within 200 feet of the proposed temple site.

Related:How a temple spire put a small Texas town and the LDS church’s religious rights at odds

The town’s planning manager said in a written response to the property owners that the letters were signed by property owners of only about 18% of the land within 200 feet of the site — just under the threshold needed to trigger a supermajority requirement.

Some residents believe the town miscalculated the area around the proposed temple site by including about 95,000 square feet that’s part of Allen, not Fairview. If only Fairview’s land is considered inside the protest boundary, the lawsuit states, property owners of just over 21% of the area are represented in the written protests — surpassing the threshold requirement by a hair.

The Town Council voted last month to bring in legal counsel to the zoning board of adjustment, citing “a serious concern” that the entity lacks the authority or jurisdiction to hear the residents’ appeal, according to town documents.

A rendering of the McKinney temple, 120-feet tall and about 30,000-square-feet large. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints submitted plans for this version, a compromise from the original plan, to the town of Fairview on Tuesday, March 25.(Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)

Johnson said when town leaders questioned the board’s power, they turned to the court to make the call — either if the board is found not to have authority or if it affirms the council’s decision on the permit.

The lawsuit asks the court to reverse the council’s decision to approve a permit for the temple or declare that the council’s vote actually denied the church a permit request. It also asks the court to wait on making a decision until after the board of adjustment considers the homeowners’ appeal.

A church spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on the appeal Monday but officials have said that a new temple is needed to accommodate its congregation in North Texas.

Related:Fairview residents challenge council’s approval of LDS temple permit

Some Fairview residents and town leaders say the structure would dominate the residential side of town and is out of line with its small-town character. The temple’s design is significantly taller than any other building in Fairview, which is 30 miles north of Dallas and home to about 11,000 residents.

Fairview Mayor John Hubbard, who was one of two votes against the permit application last month, believes district court is the best venue for the appeal and wants residents to “use every tool that they can” to get resolution.

“They’re looking for an answer,” Hubbard said. “I think we all, in order to put this behind us, we all want that answer.”