A brand new Buddhist Neighborhood Middle is slated to interchange a former 24-Hour health facility on Lawrence Avenue in Sunnyvale.
Buddhist Individuals make up 1% of the nation’s inhabitants as of 2020, in keeping with nationwide knowledge. They’re primarily concentrated in Hawaii, but in addition in California together with in San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
Buddhist locations of worship have sprouted all through the South Bay in recent times. In 2023, the San Jose Metropolis Council accepted a $25 million mission to construct the biggest Buddhist temple within the area for ethnic Cambodians after a four-year-long deliberation. That temple will open in San Jose’s Evergreen neighborhood within the upcoming years.
And final fall, Bay Space residents welcomed the grand opening of the Tâm Từ Metta Vietnamese Buddhist temple on the southern fringe of Morgan Hill.
In Sunnyvale, the 24-hour health middle closed down in March 2023 and remained vacant for 2 years, in keeping with metropolis paperwork. The world, which is situated at 1211 East Arques Avenue on the nook of Arques Avenue and Lawrence Expressway, is surrounded by numerous industrial and industrial buildings. To the north of the location are multi-family residential houses in addition to the busy U.S. Freeway 101.
Since 2003, Soka Gakkai Worldwide, a world Buddhist group, has operated a department in close by Santa Clara. The house is greater than thrice smaller than the Arques Avenue location they hope to maneuver to within the upcoming months. Its members stated they’re hoping to make use of the Sunnyvale constructing to host bigger spiritual companies and actions together with group prayers, research periods, religion dialogues and youth growth actions.
The middle is planning to open each day, and can primarily be used on the weekends and night hours throughout the weekday for group conferences. The sanctuary room would be the middle’s principal attraction and is anticipated to herald round 175 to 250 individuals on the primary Sunday of the month, when the biggest conferences are scheduled to happen.
In a letter to metropolis workers, the group states that noise from middle actions won’t affect the encircling space, which additionally consists of a number of small companies.
“None of the activities held within the facility create any significant noise levels or noise that could be heard beyond the facility,” the group stated. Most actions create noise ranges equal to what happens in a typical workplace setting with small group conferences or gatherings.”
The power’s present car parking zone will probably be redesigned to carry 93 parking areas, together with 89 customary areas and 4 accessible areas.
The proposed location is down the road from a longtime Buddhist temple, the Chung Tai Zen Middle of Sunnyvale.