Local News in Brief : Buddhist Center Denied

A group of Buddhists from Thailand have lost a bid to build a meditation center in the La Puente area.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to deny a conditional use permit to the Natural Buddhist Meditation Center, thus prohibiting the group from using its five-acre parcel for anything other than residential purposes.

Proponents of the plan said there is only one Thai Buddhist center in the county and suggested that the group was a victim of religious discrimination, noting that the board had approved three Christian churches within several blocks of the Buddhists’ land, But Supervisor Pete Schabarum, who represents the unincorporated La Puente area, said the permit should be denied because of “land use principles.”

“To even insinuate that it is (a religious issue) is nonsense,” the supervisor said.

A Schabarum aide, Mark Volmert, said that although the board had approved three churches in the area since 1978, “all are located at major intersections” while the Buddhist land is at a mid-block location, creating possible traffic complications.

“They’re prejudiced,” said Ven H. Ratanasara, president of the American Buddhist Congress, who flew to Los Angeles from Colorado to be at the board meeting. “It’s very clear.”