FORT HALL, Idaho (AP) – A tribe has denied a request by a religious group to build a dormitory-style building on the Fort Hall Reservation.

The Land Use Policy Commission of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes rejected a permit request by Church of the Firstborn of Heaven member Joseph Ahlstrom to build a three-story, 18,000-square-foot building on 3.68 acres of property, the Idaho State Journal reported Friday.

The commission told Ahlstrom in a letter that he was in violation of the laws and regulations of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes because the single-family residence he owns has about 30 people living on the property.

The commission also ordered Ahlstrom to “immediately cease and desist further misuse of the residential property.”

On its Web site, the Church of the Firstborn of Heaven said the sect was started by Terrill Dalton, who was excommunicated from the Mormon church.

Geody Harman, one church leader, said members were still looking over the letter and considering their options.

“We haven’t made a decision,” he said. “We counsel with the Lord in all our doings and we need to do that first.”

The group’s Web site said Dalton and Harmon translated records from God. Among those records were references to plural marriage and instructions to tithe to Dalton.

In its decision, the commission noted the property is intended for agricultural use and not to accommodate dozens of people.

“It overburdens the existing septic system, endangering the underground water resource and health and welfare of reservation residents,” the commission’s letter added.

Ahlstrom has 10 days to request a meeting with the commission. He can also appeal the decision to the Fort Hall Business Council or the tribal court.

The application Ahlstrom submitted said the building would house a single family of 16 adults and 19 children. The group said its members are sealed to one another spiritually and thus form one family that meets the tribe’s requirement that the property to remain a single-family residence.

But the tribe said the group’s “beliefs are not consistent with the tribal law definition of what constitutes an immediate family or marriage.”