BRIDGEWATER, NEW JERSEY, June 19, 2006: Leaders of the Sri Venkateswara Hindu temple say they don’t think prejudice is the reason the township keeps turning them away, but that it may be ignorance of Hindu culture. Opponents say they fear over development of the temple site and traffic congestion. In its third and latest try to get approval for a larger cultural center from the township’s zoning board last month, the temple scaled back the proposed center’s size to 22,000 square feet, down from 24,000 in its second try and 38,000 square feet in its first. But the zoning board again voted against the temple. Temple leaders plan to take the township to Superior Court to request that the zoning board approve their request. A new cultural center would let the temple hold language and dance classes and give its members sufficient space for dining, seating and costume changes. Temple secretary Bapineedu Kuchipudi said that space to perform Hindu dance and ceremonies is crucial to the practice of the religion. But township residents say a larger cultural center at the temple would mean nothing but increased traffic. “The neighborhood concern is traffic, noise pollution, light pollution,” said Suzanne Merten, a resident who attended the zoning board hearings.
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