Cambodian Buddhists Gain Approval For Temple In Bristol

By Andrew Gorosko

Having lost a Connecticut Supreme Court appeal through which they had sought to construct a Buddhist temple/meeting hall on rural Boggs Hill Road in Newtown, the members of a religious group have received a general zoning approval from the City of Bristol to renovate an existing commercial building there for temple/meeting hall use.

On November 13, Bristol’s Zoning Commission unanimously endorsed the Cambodian Buddhist Society of Connecticut, Inc’s, proposal to renovate and convert a vacant approximately 11,000-square-foot building in the city’s densely-built West End for use as a temple/meeting hall. The decaying structure at 247 Park Street formerly served as a meeting hall and office space for the United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union. The site has approximately 1.8 acres with an about 30-space parking lot.

Pinith Mar, the Buddhist society’s vice president and spokesman, said November 19 that it was gratifying to receive a general approval for the project from Bristol officials. The society must still submit a site plan for review and approval of the Bristol project, he noted.

“We were so happy with the decision. The City of Bristol is welcoming us to be there…I am grateful that they are welcoming us…I’m overwhelmed by the city’s decision to welcome us,” he said.

“Of course, this is ‘Plan B’ for us. Newtown was ‘Plan A’ for us,” Mr Mar said.

The Bristol temple would be the first Cambodian Buddhist temple in the state, he said.

Newtown was a good location for a temple because it was easily accessible from the Danbury and Bridgeport areas, he said. However, a Bristol temple would be easily accessible from the Hartford area, he added.

Pong Me, who is the society’s president, lives in Bristol.

The society’s past efforts to build a 7,600-square-foot temple/meeting hall at a ten-acre site at 145 Boggs Hill Road met with stiff opposition from nearby residents who mounted a strong campaign against the project. Opponents charged that having a temple/meeting hall in the neighborhood would be disruptive in terms of the traffic that would be generated by large Buddhist festivals in the rural area.

The society owns 145 Boggs Hill Road where several Buddhist monks live in a house which they use as a monastery. The society acquired the property in 1999.

Religious services are prohibited at that site by the Newtown Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) because the society does not hold the special zoning permit that town zoning regulations require for such services. In 2002, the society had sought to obtain such a special permit in order to build a Buddhist temple at the site and hold services, but the P&Z rejected that application in 2003.

That rejection led to a five-year court battle in which the Buddhist society challenged the P&Z’s rejection in both Danbury Superior Court and in the Connecticut Supreme Court, charging that the P&Z had violated the society’s religious freedom rights. Both courts upheld the P&Z’s rejection of the Buddhist’s application for a special permit to conduct religious services and to build a temple, explaining that the society’s religious freedom rights were not violated. The supreme court issued its decision in January.

In February 2003, the P&Z had decided that the temple/meeting hall proposal, which would require a 148-space parking lot to accommodate 450 society members at five major Buddhist festivals annually, is a land use that is too intensive for the site.

The P&Z had decided that the proposed use of the site was inconsistent with a quiet single-family residential neighborhood with a rural setting, and thus does not meet applicable zoning regulations that require that a land use be in harmony with the general character of a neighborhood.

Nearby residents had complained that the intensive use of the site would result in hazardous traffic conditions on the sinuous Boggs Hill Road, and would result in noisy and crowded conditions at the site.

Mr Mar said November 19 that the society holds an option to buy the former UAW building in Bristol, provided that it receives all the required approvals to convert the structure into a Buddhist temple/meeting hall.

He termed the November 13 approval from the Bristol zoning commission “the biggest hurdle” that the society faced in terms of creating a temple/meeting hall there.

“It was the opposite [response to] what we got in Newtown,” he said. In Newtown, there was virtually no local support for the Boggs Hill Road temple/meeting hall proposal, Mr Mar noted.

It is unclear if the society will continue its ownership of the Boggs Hill Road property, he said. The monks will continue to live in the building with it serving as a monastery, he said. Eventually, the monks will live in a Buddhist temple in Bristol, he said.

Noting that important members of the Buddhist society are aging, Mr Mar said it is necessary to create a temple/meeting hall. “We had to get something,” he said.

Acquiring the commercial building and converting will be an expensive proposition, he said.

Mr Mar said the UAW hall’s proximity to Rockwell Park and to Muzzy Field, which is a baseball stadium, attracted the society  to the location.

Mr Mar said that the Bristol site does not have the beauty of the Newtown property, but added that the society’s efforts to build temple were not welcomed in Newtown.

Mr Mar said that although Newtown officials had offered to help the society find an alternate location for a temple/meeting hall in Newtown, those officials were not helpful in doing so.

P&Z Chairman Lilla Dean stressed on November 19 that local officials did work to help the Buddhists find an appropriate site in Newtown.

“I’m happy that they have found a place,” Ms Dean said.