State Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Buddhist Temple Appeal

By Andrew Gorosko

On Tuesday, the Connecticut Supreme Court heard arguments in the appeal of the Cambodian Buddhist Society of Connecticut, Inc, which is seeking to overturn a lower court decision that upheld the Newtown Planning and Zoning Commission’s (P&Z) rejection of the society’s proposal to build a Buddhist temple/meeting hall in a residential area at 145 Boggs Hill Road.

The case had been pending in the Connecticut Appellate Court, but was then taken by the Supreme Court to expedite a final decision in the conflict. A five-member panel of the seven-member court heard the legal arguments in Hartford.

The Supreme Court is expected decide the case in the coming months. There is no deadline for a decision.

The Buddhist society’s appeal seeks to overturn Danbury Superior Court Judge Deborah Kochiss Frankel’s November 2005 decision that upheld the P&Z’s February 2003 rejection of the temple/meeting hall. The society wants to build a 7,600-square-foot temple/meeting hall at its ten-acre property in a residential area at 145 Boggs Hill Road. The society has a monastery at the site.

Following lengthy consideration, P&Z members in February 2003 unanimously rejected the temple/meeting hall proposal, noting that the Buddhists’ envisioned use of the property, involving increased traffic and noise, would be “far too intense for this particular site.”

P&Z members found that the sloping site holds a significant amount of wetlands. Such a constraint would limit the area available for the proposed temple/meeting hall, parking spaces for about 150 vehicles, and activities involving 450 or more people on weekends, according to the P&Z.

The temple/meeting hall proposal drew heavy opposition from nearby property owners, who listed traffic problems and noise among their main complaints. A group of eight nearby residents entered the Buddhist society’s court action as intervenors, siding with the P&Z in the case.

In March 2003, citing religious freedom, as protected by federal and state law, the society filed a Danbury Superior Court appeal in seeking to overturn the P&Z’s rejection of its application. Through the appeal, the Buddhist society had sought to have a judge order the P&Z to approve the temple/meeting hall.

The primary legal issue in the case involves whether the P&Z’s denial of special permit required to build the temple violated the Federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and the state’s Religious Freedom Act.

The society contends that Judge Frankel erred in interpreting applicable law in rendering her decision.

The society maintains that the P&Z denial of the temple/meeting hall application violated applicable law because it imposed a substantial burden on the society’s exercise of its religion.

“Many of the society’s members, including Pong Me, escaped the ‘killing fields’ of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime to seek refuge in this country, a safe haven where they could freely practice their religion and live out their lives in peace. After years of work and saving, the society’s members sought to build a permanent temple and meditation center at 145 Boggs Hill Road,” the Buddhist society states in its legal papers.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal said this week he hopes the town wins the court case. “I’m certainly hopeful we’ll prevail,” he said.

The town has made a strong case that the Boggs Hill Road location for a temple is an unsuitable one, he said.

The town supports the Buddhists’ finding a better location for a temple within town, he added.

The P&Z’s rationale for rejecting the temple application was not discriminatory, he said, stressing the traffic issues posed by the location.