Florida Zoning Board Approves Buddhist Temple over Developers

May 11, 2003

Source: St. Petersburg Times

http://www.sptimes.com/2003/05/11/Neighborhoodtimes/Buddhist_throngs_plea.shtml

On May 11, 2003 St. Petersburg Times reported that "today the Chua Phat Phap temple... [FL] will bustle with worshipers gathered to celebrate their faith's most important holiday - the birth, enlightenment and demise of Buddha... William Anderson and his wife... hope to develop lots they own nearby. Property in the area is rising in value. At the bottom of Snug Harbor Road, off which the temple stands, land is being prepared for a new waterfront community, Venetian Bay... On Thursday, the Andersons appeared before the Pinellas County Board of Adjustment to speak against a special exception being granted to the temple to operate in the residential neighborhood... The board, though, approved the exception on condition that the congregation landscape its parking lots and properly delineate parking spots... The Andersons are concerned about the heavy traffic the temple draws... 'I've got pictures. I've seen what it's like out there. There's been every bit of 800, 900 cars there. I'm just concerned about parking. I don't want to run the monks out,' William Anderson said."