Massachusetts Mormons Win Right To Erect Steeple.

A Mormon church in Belmont, Mass., may erect an 83-foot steeple even though some neighbors have complained that it is too big, the state's highest court has ruled.

Belmont's Mormon temple opened last October after years of litigation by some residents in the exclusive Boston suburb who unsuccessfully claimed it violated local zoning ordinances. When that effort failed, opponents went back into court arguing that the steeple was too tall and unnecessary.

In 1997, the local zoning board approved the temple's plan to erect the steeple. A group of neighbors sued, saying the structure would be a blight on the community. A superior court ruled in favor of the neighbors, but that ruling has now been over-turned by the higher court.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts rejected the neighbor's key arguments on May 16. "It is not for judges to determine whether the inclusion of a particular architectural feature is `necessary' for a particular religion," wrote the court. "A rose window at Notre Dame Cathedral, a balcony at St. Peter's Basilica, are judges to decide whether these architectural elements are `necessary' to the faith served by those buildings?"

When completed, the steeple will reach 83 feet above the roof and be topped by a statue of the angel Moroni.