In March, the Modesto Board of Zoning Adjustment — a nonelected panel at City Hall — approved the temple’s 115-foot finial, or spire. That’s 50 feet higher than zoning otherwise allows.

Visitors enter the Feather River California Temple in Yuba City on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023 during a public open house held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.