BAPS RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL CENTER, NJ

1. BAPS Proposal for Religious and Cultural Center Stirs Debate in East Windsor

www.nj.com

EAST WINDSOR, NEW JERSEY, August 13, 2006: Devotees of Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha, known as BAPS, have proposed a $142 million cultural and religious center on 152 acres near Turnpike Interchange 8 and Route 33 which has spawned an intense debate in the East Windsor community. BAPS's preliminary plans call for the construction of 17 buildings and a temple on 20 acres, leaving the rest of the property untouched and preserving wetlands. To many the center would be a boon for the region. To others, though, the center represents intense development that would generate too much traffic. BAPS encountered similar resistance when its leaders proposed building temples in North Bergen and Parsippany. Their perseverance through legal struggles and residential complaints - ranging from traffic concerns to odors from Indian food permeating the nearby neighborhood - paid off. In 2000, the organization converted a nightclub into a house of worship in North Bergen. Approval for construction of the temple had dragged on for years because the North Bergen Board of Adjustments would not issue BAPS a zoning variance. BAPS challenged the board's decision in court and won. In 2001, the case ended up in the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals where current U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito wrote the dissenting opinion in a 2-1 ruling that favored BAPS. The legal drama BAPS encountered in North Bergen did not, however, dissuade the group from planning to build a temple in an industrial zone in Parsippany. Even though the organization faced debates with Parsippany residents over traffic flow, parking spaces, and the pungent smell of Indian food, it recently obtained a zoning variance to turn a 24,000-square-foot warehouse into a temple there.

To view the proposed plan for BAPS new religious and cultural center in East Windsor, click here. The center will be built along the lines of BAPS Akshardham Delhi, with a 120-foot-high central monument.