Miami

Zen Zoning

Commission overturns decision to shut down Buddhist center

By Angie Hargot

The Miami City Commission last Thursday overturned a Jan. 28 Zoning Board decision to deny a Buddhist institute a permit to operate in a Coconut Grove residential area.

The Zoning Board rejection came after the Zab Sang Institute failed to resolve parking and traffic disputes with at least one neighbor of the property located on a six-home cul-de-sac at 3570 Main Highway.

The center, run by Master Chufi Tsai, came under fire when practitioners parked their cars in the narrow street while attending services, occasionally blocking driveways. The center itself has only nine parking spots, but admits up to 15 attendees at a time.

The Zoning Board decided the center had infringed enough upon its neighbors’ rights and denied its application for an exception.

But the City Commission, after hearing from attorney Lucia Dougherty (who took the case pro bono), saw the matter differently. Dougherty cited Tsai’s community work with the elderly and her credentials as a Buddhist master, as well as submitting a letter of support from the Dalai Lama.

“This is not a commercial venture,” Dougherty said, adding that although the center sells religious trinkets in a gift shop, other nearby religious centers do the same. “We are asking for a special exception,” she argued.

Dougherty then brought in the testimony of attorney Jason Gordon, who represented a chabad in Hollywood that recently experienced similar city opposition for operating in a residential neighborhood. The city of Hollywood ultimately was ordered to pay roughly $2 million in damages after it failed to allow the place of worship to operate there. The courts also ordered the commissioners to take sensitivity training.

Gordon said the cities of Cooper City and Surfside have recently come under fire for infringing upon the religious rights of places of worship. According to Gordon, in addition to a settlement, Surfside taxpayers had to foot the bill for $800,000 in legal fees.

“The U.S. was founded on people who were escaping religious persecution,” Dougherty said, and read from a letter from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

“From our review of the record,” the letter read, “we understand that the primary concerns raised in opposition to the applications are traffic and parking … however, courts have repeatedly held that traffic concerns have never been deemed compelling.”

City staff recommended denial of the item mostly because the property lies on a private road, but Dougherty argued that a neighboring chabad is also on a private road. She displayed on a map a number of other religious institutions in the area.

“What we would agree to is to not let anyone park on any space that isn’t on this private property,” Dougherty said.

“We always encourage them to park in a public facility and walk over,” Tsai told the commission.

Reginald Nicholson, a patron of the center, told the commission he was diagnosed with cancer in 2000, which returned in 2005. In addition to modern medicine, he said, “With [Tsai’s] help and constant reassurance, I’ve managed to stay alive for these last three years despite being told that I might not last six months…. Now the city where I was born is not allowing me the freedom of religion which is guaranteed in the First Amendment.”

The commission heard from a handful of other practitioners who said the institute had changed their lives.

 “What we have to do is treat this religious institution as we would any other religious institution,” Commissioner Marc Sarnoff said. “Under our code, we must find a way for them to exist.”

Sarnoff suggested no outside parking be allowed other than the nine spaces, which will have to be monitored; failure to do so would violate the terms of the special exception. He added that he wanted to see the organization back in one year to monitor the situation. The item passed unanimously.

Comments? E-mail angie@miamisunpost.com