Buddhists get green light for temple on Park Street

For decades, the United Auto Workers gathered weekly in a meeting hall on Park Street to talk shop.

But their hall, which has sat idle for years since the departure of General Motors, may soon ring with the voices of Buddhist monks.

The city’s Zoning Commission gave its unanimous blessing recently to a plan by the Cambodian Buddhist Society of Connecticut to turn the decrepit old hall into a temple.

Gina Newman, a planning commissioner, called it “fabulous” that the Buddhists aim to join Bristol’s melting pot to worship and showcase their culture and faith.

“These are truly lovely people,” said attorney Tim Furey. “They are gentle souls.”

The plan calls for renovating the old union hall at 247 Park St. so that it can house three to five monks who would live there. The old meeting space would be used for worship and other events.

Supporters said there are four major celebrations annually that would likely bring about 250 people to the hall, but most of the time it would be a tranquil, quiet place.

The temple’s quick approval in Bristol stands in sharp contrast to the outcry in Newtown when Buddhists sought to construct a small temple on 10 acres of former farmland – a tempest that ultimately led land use regulators to shoot down the plan.

In Bristol, however, the request drew a crowd to Thursday’s Zoning Commission session to urge approval of the idea, not to fight it.

Paul Balavender of Canton said he’s been a part Buddhist community since he worked in refugee camps on the Cambodian border almost three decades ago.

“They are a very respectful, hardworking, warm people,” Balavender said.

He said that welcoming the temple presented “a unique opportunity for Bristol” to embrace the Buddhists and to distinguish the community from the treatment shown it in Newtown.

Tom Borden, a Willis Street resident, said that the hall “begs for redevelopment.”

He said that the temple would be “a great addition to this community. Diversity is a good thing.”

John Lodovico, vice chairman of the zoning panel, said the building is currently in “great disrepair” and fixing it would benefit the neighborhood around it.

He said the hall was once a site of “great hustle and bustle” that would contrast sharply with the quiet, contemplative life of the monks.

But, Lodovico said, the new use for the structure would represent “a big plus for Park Street.”

“This is an easy one” to approve, Lodovido said.

“It would be an improvement to Park Street. It would be an improvement to the community. It would be an improvement to the West End,” said Frank Johnson, chairman of the zoning board.

City Planner Alan Weiner asked commissioners to put the brakes on the plan for four months until a study of the West End is complete, but the panel brushed aside his suggestion.

Furey said it would amount to “an unconstitutional taking” to deny the zoning request in order to wait for the study, since land use overseers could have imposed a moratorium in the area if they’d felt the study was that important.

The union hall could accommodate parking most of the time for its activities, but on the four busy celebrations, there would be an overflow of cars in the area.

Furey said they can park at Rockwell Park across the street, a move park commissioners have already approved. The Buddhists said they’d work with the city to try to avoid conflicting with park or Muzzy Field events.

With the zoning approval in hand, Furey said, the society is hoping to arrange financing for the project soon. It’s unclear how quickly the temple could be ready for use.

But officials said they’re anxious to get started.

“They’re just looking for the opportunity to have a true home and be part of the community,” Furey said.

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

Rating the city's websites

Since an increasingly large percentage of Bristol's population is using the internet daily to work, play and gather information -- something that's true for all of my blog readers -- it's crucial that a city government tries to keep up with the times.
I thought I'd start a weekly review of how various Bristol government websites are handling the task. I'll even grade them, from F to A.
Today, because I don't want to sound too harsh, I'll begin with a section I know is doing a good job: the land use division of public works.
Now the first thing you'll note is that this is about as far from flashy and hip as a website can be. City Planner Alan Weiner is not going to get hired away by the Disney Channel.
But the site is clear and simple.
There are links to the various boards - zoning, planning, wetlands, etc. - as well as to major studies such as the Route 72 Corridor Study and the city's master plan. The land use regulations are also right there.
The board links are up to date with the current agendas, minutes, and hearing notices.
The membership lists of each board are up to date, too, which is nice. They don't include email addresses or phone numbers for board members, but perhaps with land use, that wouldn't be such a great idea anyhow.
So with a minimum of effort, someone can easily find out an awful lot about land use in Bristol and what's going on.
What isn't there? Details about current applications, which could be submitted in electronic format so they'd be freely available online, too. But that's probably not going to happen for awhile yet. I don't even know if the city could require it.
Anyway, the land use office's website gets a solid A, particularly if you stack it up against what other municipal divisions are doing. We'll get to them in future weeks.

Grades to date:
Public works land use division - A

Update: Well, it turns out that the land use office website is even better than I thought.
In fact, I'm told by the city planner, "each application included on the pre-meeting legal notice and agenda of each land use board's upcoming meeting is linked (via its application number) to an electronic copy of the application, along with a "locater" map that highlights the subject property."
The office scans the applications as they come, then prepares and scans in the accompanying locater map.
That's terrific. This is absolutely top notch.
Here's what City Planner Alan Weiner wrote to me in full:
Thanks for the kind words on your blog about the Land Use Office's website; your acknowledgment of our efforts is greatly appreciated. Largely through Kacie's [Kacie Costello, the assistant planner] hard work (and Web savvy), we strive to keep the site comprehensive, timely, informative, and user-friendly to everyone who uses it. At the same time, we're constantly on the lookout for ways in which to improve the site, looking to add features that will make it even more useful to the public.
One point of clarification: near the end of your article, you observe, "What isn't there? Details about current applications, which could be submitted in electronic format so they'd be freely available online, too." In fact, each application included on the pre-meeting legal notice and agenda of each land use board's upcoming meeting is linked (via its application number) to an electronic copy of the application, along with a "locater" map that highlights the subject property. (We scan in each application as it's received, then prepare and scan in the accompanying "locater" map.)
As to the design of the website itself, I agree completely that it's pretty unspectacular, but unfortunately we're bound by the limitations of the master template that the city uses. Believe me, I wish we could improve its looks!

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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com