Buddhist retreat developers pursue separate zoning district
Megan Strickland
Nick Kaufman, vice president for WGM Group that is contracting a Buddhist retreat center near Hot Springs, describes how construction will impact western Lake County.
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LAKE COUNTY — On March 12 the Lake County Planning Board tentatively approved the creation of a separate zoning district to accommodate the construction of a Buddhist retreat center along the western border of Lake County.
The board suggested amendments to the developer’s proposed regulations that will help mitigate potential aquifer damage, mining, and emergency services issues that could arise for the facility. The county commissioners are set to review the entire amended plan for the zoning district on April 8.
“This is kind of a more hands-off zoning district,” County Planner LaDana Hintz said. “There’s kind of this sacred thing going on. We don’t want to be invading their space all the time to go out there and do a site visit.”
The rural 8,900-acre property is a former ranch that was purchased by the retreat developers in 2009. It is held in trust by Lewis Linn, Inc. and run by the Namchak Foundation, a nonprofit that is separate, but affiliated with spiritual leader Gochen Tulku San-ngag Rinpoche and the Ewam religious charity that in 2012 completed the garden of 1,000 Buddhas in Arlee. The retreat’s website says that the construction has been tasked to Lama Tsomo, who is also known as heiress Linda Pritzker.
“The ranch has vastness and remoteness that makes it ideal for deep spiritual practice,” said Geoff Badenoch, representative for the facility.
The retreat center plans to house 260 staff and students that will come, live in dormitories, and study and practice Tibetan Buddhism.
People who come to study at the retreat ranch will stay at the ranch for a weekend, or a month, or perhaps longer to study what they learn with their teachers; at the completion of their studies they will leave and go back to their hometown, according to Badenoch.
“We’re not looking to convert anyone to Buddhism or encourage any of our students to settle in the area, or particularly settle on our land,” he said.
The retreat will continue to lease land to graze cattle and grow crops, and might use forest products on the property to make furniture. It might choose to incorporate some sort of school facility for retreat children in the future, Kaufman said. The facility has obtained an open cut mining permit in case it needs to remove stone to lay its foundation for a building and open a gravel pit for road construction.
“We’re not opening a year-round, 24/7, excavated, side-of-the-hill stone quarry,” said Nick Kaufman, vice president for WGM Group that is contracting the project. Any mining will be limited to the construction phase.
Kaufman said the developers have spoken with local authorities about how to best provide emergency services and fire protection for the property, which lies outside of a fire district. The facility has a hydrologist and wild land firefighter on staff to help it reduce risk of fire. They regularly mow to prevent undergrowth buildup. The retreat owners went so far as to purchase a fire engine, but it was stolen.
Multiple members of the planning committee expressed concerns about the remoteness of the area in the event of an emergency. The Lake County road leading into the property is the last one plowed in the event of snow. It took a week for the road to be completely cleared from the last snowstorm that hit the area.
Kaufman said the group has made contact with professionals about how to call in an air transport if some disaster struck while the retreat was snowed in.
Options to solve potential problems might include forming a separate fire or maintenance district, but that could be a difficult process. Neighbors who are permanent residents would have to vote for creating the district, because members of the retreat are temporary residents and don’t have in-county voting rights.
Kaufman said the retreat’s developers have taken extra care to introduce themselves to all of the property’s neighbors to mitigate any impacts the retreat may have.
Neighbor Rex Lang said his main concern for the retreat’s construction was the amount of dust generated by incoming traffic. Currently, Lang sees about 10 cars per day that travel the road and cause dust problems.
“I don’t care what they do on their own property,” Lang said. “I’m not concerned so much about the traffic, but the maintenance on the road causes dust that gets on the grass, and then livestock eating the grass cough, and it’s hard on them.”
Kaufman said the group intends to have construction workers live on-site during construction to cut down on traffic and that students would keep trips in and out of the retreat to a minimum, because constant travel would likely distract them from study.
Another comment submitted via mail asked that a provision be made that the retreat would not deplete the natural springs in the area.
The retreat and county planners said they would work together to finish a finalized version of the suggested zoning changes that addresses the planning board’s concerns by the April 8 hearing set for 10 a.m. in Room 211 of the Lake County Courthouse.
Written comments on the proposed zoning changes can be submitted at planning@lakemt.gov
