Plan for a Hindu temple sparks controversy
(P-D)By Robert Kelly and Christine Byers
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
08/28/2008
HOUSE SPRINGS — A plan to build a Hindu temple, education center and more than 100 housing units on almost 140 acres off Byrnesville Road has attracted opposition from neighbors.
"It's our opinion that it's inconsistent with the surrounding, largely rural area," said one opponent, Bill Fogarty.
The proposal comes before the Jefferson County Planning and Zoning Commission tonight.
The Hindu complex is proposed for a site adjoining Fogarty's land, near Byrnesville and Lynch roads and west of Highway 30. The site is about 30 miles southwest of St. Louis.
Fogarty lives on 85 acres behind the proposed Hindu complex. He is leading an opposition group of neighbors who call themselves the Byrnesville Concerned Citizens. He says the site proposed for the complex cannot handle the traffic, water or sewage needs of more than 100 homes and that the development would be inconsistent with the primarily rural zoning for the area.
"What's being proposed is anything but rural," Fogarty said. "It's going to create a significant amount of new traffic. And people like me and my family moved out here to get away from the city."
Fogarty said one of his main concerns was that the two-lane, winding Byrnesville Road could not handle the increased traffic that would be generated by the Hindu complex. The road "doesn't even meet the existing county standards, with its lack of shoulders," Fogarty said.
He said opponents of the project would give the Planning and Zoning Commission a petition signed by more than 300 people. The commission meets at 7 p.m. today at the Jefferson County Administration Building, 729 Maple Street in Hillsboro.
Ananda LLC, a corporation that is seeking to build the Hindu complex, is asking the commission to recommend a zoning change so it can build up to 107 houses on half-acre lots, in addition to a temple and religious education center.
The site is currently zoned for large residential lots of two acres or more. The proposed rezoning would allow for a mixed use, including the temple, education center and half-acre residential lots.
Brad Goss, attorney for Ananda LLC, said the property owners and developers looked at a number of locations, including Cahokia, Wildwood and Wentzville. "But this site became available and they thought it would work well as a spiritual retreat center," Goss said.
He said opponents of the project have raised legitimate questions, such as whether the sanitary sewage system will be adequate or how the water supply will affect surrounding property. "And we have answers for them," Goss said.
Goss said the property owners expect to draw interest from the Hindu population throughout the St. Louis area.
"The Hindu community is larger than most realize, but we're not expecting to have tremendous amounts of people visiting it," Goss said. "On any given day, 20 or so people may come, and 100 on the weekends. A Hindu temple is not like a Presbyterian or Catholic church with intense traffic on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays."
If approved, the project would be built in phases over about seven years. The first phase of the temple would bring it to about 3,000 square feet. Eventually, the owners hope to expand it to up to 15,000 square feet and bring artisans from India to decorate it like a temple in Ballwin, Goss said.
The owners "feel that the temple in St. Louis County is serving the population well, but there is a need and a demand for another facility," he said.
Goss said the owners have plans to offer free yoga and meditation classes at the complex.
Justin L. Randall, a planner for Jefferson County, has recommended approval of the rezoning, subject to some regulatory requirements. The Jefferson County Commission will have the final say on any recommendation by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Fogarty said his group's opposition to the plan had nothing to do with religious objections.
"I've met some (of the applicants) and they're very, very nice people," Fogarty said. "We don't have any expectation that they wouldn't be good neighbors."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hindus are scarce in Jefferson County. The bureau estimates that 1,521 county residents are of Asian descent, the group most likely to be Hindus. That is just 0.7 percent of the county's estimated total population of 216,469.
Nationwide, there are more than 2 million practicing Hindus, according to the Hindu American Foundation. A majority of them live in coastal states, the foundation says.
Jefferson County Commissioner Ed Kemp, whose district would include the proposed Hindu complex, said he had received several letters and phone calls expressing concerns about the proposal. Kemp said he didn't question the right of Hindus to build a temple and education center in the county.
"A school and a church can go into any zoned areas in Jefferson County, regardless of how they are zoned," Kemp said.
rkelly@post-dispatch.com 636-937-5615
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