Both Sides Speak Out on Monastery

More than 200 people jammed Tuesday night’s City Council meeting to express their views on a proposal for a Buddhist monastery and meditation center on the east side of town.

Those against construction of the religious complex, proposed by the Myanmar Buddhist Society of America, told council members they feared it would bring traffic jams and noise.

Those who spoke in support of it included representatives of a number of other religious organizations.

John Dalton, a 20-year resident who is an official in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and who lives near the site, said, “We welcome them here as gentle people and as people our children can look up to and learn from.”

The Buddhist group and city officials have been negotiating for more than a year over plans for the 5-acre center. After the Planning Commission rejected the initial proposal early last year, the group changed the plan to comply with city codes. A pagoda that would have violated the city’s height ordinance was omitted, as were other Asian architectural touches.

In January, the Planning Commission gave the group permission to proceed, but since then, a number of residents have asked the council to overturn that decision. Public comment on the issue continued late into the night at Tuesday’s meeting.

The noise issue has puzzled the monks of the Myanmar Buddhist Society, who say that they chose Yorba Linda for its quiet beauty and that Buddhist law strictly prohibits noise at monasteries. But many residents remain unconvinced.

Said Georgia Campbell, who lives nearby: “There is going to be noise coming from the opening and the closing of the car doors as people come and go. . . . People are going to be coming and going at all hours of the night.”