First Latter-day Saints temple in Clark County will be built in Camas

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has announced the location of a 43,000-square-foot, multistory temple to be built in Camas.

The temple will sit on a 15.11-acre site on the northwest corner of the intersection of Southeast Bybee Road and Southeast 20th Street, just inside the border of the city of Camas. However, the church is referring to the building as its “new Vancouver Washington Temple” on its website.

The building is projected to be a 267-foot-tall, multistory temple. No groundbreaking date, artist rendering or other construction details have been released.

A temple building serves a different role than a church or chapel in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to its website. A church or chapel hosts routine Sunday services and other community gatherings. A temple is for special religious instruction and special ceremonies and covenants, such as baptisms and marriage.

There are about a dozen Latter-day Saints churches or other facilities already in Clark County.

This will be Washington’s sixth working or planned Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple, and the second in the Portland-Vancouver area. Currently, the closest operating temple to Clark County is in Portland.

In Washington, there are operating temples in Richland, Moses Lake, Seattle and Spokane. A Tacoma temple project was announced in 2022.

There are more than 280,000 members of the church in 489 congregations in Washington.

Reportedly the second-fastest growing faith in the United States today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has recently announced plans for 20 new temples worldwide in locations as diverse as Hawaii, Alaska, Mexico, Ghana, Nigeria, Japan and Mongolia.