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Economy

County Supervisors To Hear Dispute Over Buddhist Meditation Center

A dispute over allowing a Buddhist group to build on its property in Bonsall is scheduled to go before the San Diego County Board of Supervisors next week, documents made available today showed.

The Dai Dang Meditation Center, which bought the nearly nine-acre property at 6326 Camino del Rey in 2001, applied for a major use permit to build a two-story, 8,900-square-foot residence, a 7,600-square-foot meditation hall and a 6,200-square-foot worship hall.

The buildings would be connected by walkways, courtyards and gardens. The plans also call for about 120 parking places.

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The permit would allow 30 people -- Dai Dang Monastery monks -- to live on site and 300 to visit on weekends and during special events.

The county Planning Commission unanimously approved the project but, the Bonsall Community Planning Group, an advisory panel that voted against it four times in the past eight years, appealed the approval.

Opponents say the Vietnamese Buddhist meditation center does not fit the character of the community and its agricultural surroundings, and that it is incompatible with a next-door, 15-acre avocado grove that uses pesticides, according to the documents.

A county staff report refutes their claims and recommends denial of the appeal.