An environmental review committee yesterday ordered a Buddhist group’s proposal to build a large religious complex on Laolan Mountain (荖蘭山) in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮) to re-evaluate its plans because of the risks and their potential ecological impact.
The Ling Jiou Mountain Buddhist Society has proposed building a 2.56-hectare complex featuring a 21m-high dome-shaped pagoda to accommodate monks and nuns in a broad-leaved forest on the mountain. While such forests are typical, they have become increasingly rare on the northeastern coast. Moreover, several protected species have been found near the proposed construction site, including brown shrikes, Taiwan blue magpies, Formosan Reeves’ muntjacs, masked palm civets, Taipei tree frogs and pangolins.
The complex would be the society’s third monastery on the mountain, which would connect two existing ones to form a religious center that can accommodate an increasing number of visitors.
However, the Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) environmental impact assessment committee yesterday questioned the complex’s size and design, saying that a six-story building with a three-story basement would be too big for its designed capacity of 249 rooms, while the pagoda would be too obtrusive and not blend in with the surrounding landscape.
“The pagoda should not be higher than the mountain ridge, or it would change the landscape. The spirit of buddhism is inward reflection and does not need to proclaim itself. We recommend that you adopt a more modest design,” committee member Liu Shi-ping (劉希平) said.
The committee also said the location might be too steep to support such a large building.
The size of the building is near the legal limit for constructions on hillsides and such a project would necessitate deep excavations, which could trigger a disaster due to soil erosion or in case of an earthquake, the committee said.
Moreover, the ecological survey conducted by the developer was not comprehensive enough, as it did not perform any field research to observe surrounding vegetation, the committee said, adding that the survey was carried out in winter instead of summer when animals and plants are most abundant.
The committee also asked the developer to submit more contingent measures against natural disasters, as well as rebuilding vegetation after the rare forest is removed.
A nun who is a member of the society said that the group would take the committee’s opinions into consideration, as the group embraces the spirit of Buddhism and its ideal of protecting the environment.
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