Buddhist monks propose temple near Redmond
A Buddhist temple and meditation center may be coming to a rural neighborhood west of Redmond. The applicants and some neighbors spoke to a Deschutes County hearings officer at a hearing Tuesday night in Bend.
A 12-acre site on Northwest 95th Street, off Highway 126 is where the group wants to build a meditation center is zoned for farm use. The facilities are planned within an existing home and separate stable, planners said.
At the meeting, no one testified against the proposed meditation center. In fact, many said they love what it could do for the community.
A few neighbors who described themselves as “neutral” voiced concerns about added traffic on the gravel road. They said 95 th Street is not maintained by the county and residents say it sometimes gets potholes six inches deep after heavy rainfall.
If the county or Buddhist residents helped keep the road in a good condition, they’d be appreciative.
Neighbors had only positive things to say about the monks themselves.
“I’ve never heard a peep out of them, and they’re just really quiet, friendly people that respect property,” one neighbor said.
How did this idea come to be? Ben Heffer said that after two Thai Central Oregonians opened a sushi restaurant in Redmond, they wanted to buy a piece of property to have a meditation master and live there to train others in a particular type of insight meditation called Vipassana.
“It’s a place of peace, and it will remain so. It will be a quiet place to be and to learn,” Heffer said.
As for the road, Heffer said he thinks the temple community is willing to do whatever is necessary to make neighbors happy and at peace with the center.
Another concern from residents was whether visitors will spend the night at the center, but organizers said the center would not be a place for visitors to spend the night.
A county senior planner said the written record will remain open until Nov. 22. After that, the hearings officer will make her decision. He expects that will happen by mid to late December.
