Yorba Linda Rejects Buddhist Proposal to Build Monastery

After hours of testimony over land use, religious practices and noise control, the City Council on Wednesday unanimously denied a Buddhist group permission to build a monastery at the eastern end of town.

Some council members said they feared the project was too large and would draw many more people than the Myanmar Buddhist Society of America anticipated.

“Why do you need 20,000 square feet for only 40 or 50 people?” Councilman John M. Gullixson asked at the meeting, which started Tuesday night and ended early Wednesday.

The council also was worried about building a monastery on a hillside in a residential area.

“I would welcome this temple somewhere else in the city,” Mayor Mark Schwing said, “but this particular parcel of land is not the right one.”

Members of the Myanmar society, however, said they believed the council had been influenced by residents seeking to discredit them.

Residents near the proposed monastery site tried to link the group to other Buddhist temples in Southern California that have used meditation centers to host political gatherings, and to one temple in Azusa that neighbors call an eyesore because it isn’t landscaped.

“I am personally very offended by this,” said Bhante Walpola Piyananda, a monk at a temple in Los Angeles who attended the meeting. “They have called us dirty Third World people who aren’t even from this country.”

The Myanmar society tried to rebut the claims made by residents. One board member, Dede Whiteside, brought a letter from the abbot at the temple in Azusa stating that the two groups have no connection.

Residents were unswayed and urged the council to deny a building permit for the project, which included a 9,000-square-foot monks’ quarters and a 10,000-square-foot meditation center. Although the applicant stated there would rarely be more than 40 people using the complex at once, residents said the size of the structures suggested there would be many more people making regular visits.

One resident, Jack Majors, objected to the size and Asian architectural style. “You have before you a project that compares to the Taj Mahal,” he said.

Another, Georgia Campbell, maintained that the unusual architecture would draw crowds of people and cause traffic in the neighborhood, including at night.

Cynthia Duffy, who described herself as a devout Christian, said, “It is detestable to me that this is being considered because God commanded his people to rid the land of those who worship pagan gods.”

As in past hearings, a diverse group of religious leaders came to speak in favor of the Buddhists.

John Dalton, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who lives next to the proposed monastery site, said he welcomed the Burmese Buddhists to Yorba Linda as “gentle people our children can look up to and learn from.”

Father Richard Delahunty of St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Yorba Linda encouraged the council to allow the monks, whom he described as “respectful, tolerant, peaceful and cooperative,” to build their monastery.

“The objections about crowds could be voiced about any church in the city,” Delahunty said.

In recent years, council members have barred only one other project from going forward, a pool hall they believed did not belong in the community.

However, council members said it is not unusual for new developments to go through several hearings before they are approved. They told the Buddhists they could return to the city with a proposal to build at a different site.

“We are very strict in this city,” Councilwoman Barbara Kiley said. “I don’t know of any city in Orange County that has such low density and works as hard to keep such low density.”