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Thursday 31 January 2008

Court Rejects Buddhists' Temple

By LYNNE TUOHY
The Hartford Courant

The state Supreme Court Wednesday unanimously rejected the legal arguments and efforts by the Cambodian Buddhist Society of Connecticut to build a temple on 10 acres they own in Newtown.The case pitted the Newtown Planning and Zoning Commission and neighbors of the site on Boggs Hill Road against the Buddhist society, which claimed the denial of a permit for the temple violated and federal laws that bar political entities from placing a substantial burden on the exercise of religious freedom.The justices determined that there was "substantial evidence" on which the town based its refusal to grant the Buddhists a special exception to build the 7,600-square-foot temple and meeting hall, which contemplated up to 450 Buddhists attending celebrations of the five major festivals a year.
The justices also said the denial did not trigger federal and state laws designed to safeguard the exercise of religious freedom, because the circumstances of the case do not fall within the parameters of those laws.Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote that the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 "does not apply to neutral and generally applicable land use regulations that are intended to protect the public health and safety, such as those at issue in the present case."The society claims that the commission's denial of its application on the basis of the temple's Asian design and the fact that Buddhist festivals would be celebrated on its property demonstrates its discriminatory intent," Palmer wrote. "Upon careful review of the record, however, we are satisfied that the commission's concerns were motivated not by religious bigotry, but by neutral considerations that it would apply equally to any proposed use of the property."Palmer noted that town officials and neighbors had expressed hope the Buddhist society would find a more suitable setting in the town for its temple.The Newtown Planning and Zoning Commission, in its unanimous decision in February 2003 denying the special permit application, stated in part: ``Although the commission would welcome the Buddhist religion into the community, the planned and expected future level of activity proposed ... is too intense.''The Cambodian Buddhist temple would have been the first in Connecticut. With elders dying off, the Cambodian Buddhists say the risk is grave that their religion and culture will die as well. Many of the Cambodian Buddhists involved in trying to build a temple fled the "killing fields" of the Pol Pot and Kmer Rouges regime three decades ago.``Time is running out. The older generation is dying,'' said Pinith Mar said, after listening to the Supreme Court arguments. Mar fled a Cambodian refugee camp at age 13 and is now an engineer with the state Department of Transportation. Because the Khmer Rouge systematically killed monks and the educated, Cambodian Buddhism and the culture it represents dwell in those who escaped annihilation.``If they are gone, I have nowhere to go,'' Mar said of the elders who can teach him and his 8-year-old twin sons the rites and traditions of his religion.Attorney Robert Fuller, representing the commission, and attorney Thomas Beecher, who represents neighbors opposed to the temple, both argued that the decision does not hinder or burden the exercise of religion, but states only that the location is not appropriate for a temple.The commission initially gave six reasons for its denial of the permit application, including that the Asian architecture would have a negative impact on property values and was not in harmony with the area's traditional New England architecture. Superior Court Judge Deborah Kochiss Frankel ruled that five of the commission's reasons were unsubstantiated, but upheld the decision based on the commission's concern that the society had not yet obtained well and septic permits.Fuller also denigrated what he termed the ``melodramatic'' assertions of the Cambodian Buddhists that it was imperative that they build their temple as soon as possible. He noted that they let three years lapse between buying the property in 1999 and applying for the special permit in 2002.Attorney Michael Zizka, who represents the Cambodian Buddhist Society, told the justices the delay could not be equated with a lackluster attitude to build the temple. ``This is not a society that is flush with money," Zizka said.He later said outside the court that the society does not want to invest in a well and septic system if it doesn't have a building permit. He said it was the jurisdiction of the local and state departments of health, and not the planning and zoning commission, to oversee septic and drinking water concerns.The case required the justices to analyze both the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and the state's Religious Freedom Act in the context of the proposed temple. Fuller argued that those laws don't mandate special treatment for religious groups; Zizka countered that they do. In his brief, Zizka cast the commission's denial as thinly veiled discrimination.Justices Peter Zarella and Richard Palmer both commented that the state's Religious Freedom Act is ``a significant overlay'' on established law. They and Justice Flemming L. Norcott Jr. asked Fuller why the commission didn't approve the permit with the condition that well and septic permits be obtained before the start of construction.``It's preferential treatment that someone else isn't going to get,'' Fuller replied. ``The cases don't say that. They say they [the Buddhists] should be treated no better or no worse. They don't get an automatic free ride.''Beecher, in his brief, argued that the planned size of the temple grew from 6,000 square feet to 7,600 square feet before the first public hearing on the issue. However, there are homes on Boggs Hill Road that are larger, including an 8,200-square-foot house on Boggs Hill Road that sold last year for $1.87 million.Outside court, Mar, and Bruce P. Blair, Buddhist chaplain and director of Yale University's Indigo Blue center for Buddhist life, had explained the importance of having a temple.They said a monk is not a true monk unless he has a temple, just as temple is not a temple unless it is inhabited by a monk. The monks can leave the temple and its grounds, but cannot be away overnight.``It ends up being a question of the integrity and legitimacy of the faith,'' Blair said.``When we go to a temple, we go to pay respect for our loved ones who have passed away, and we believe the spirit of the loved one goes to the temple to see the family,'' Mar said. ``The monk is a channel between the living and the dead.''Blair said last year the temple is in no way a social club. ``It's a place wherein the faith can be handed from one generation to the next,'' he said. ``To deny that liberty is to extinguish the very life of the community. It is to finish the work of Pol Pot. It is something that is so wrong.''
Contact Lynne Tuohy at ltuohy@courant

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