New dorm buildings for Buddhist nuns' campus get the go-ahead in Three Rivers

Three Rivers council gave final approval this week to a development application from Buddhist nuns to construct two new dormitory buildings on land the group owns in eastern P.E.I.

The two buildings on the Great Wisdom Buddhist Institute campus in Brudenell total 88,000 square feet of living and instructional space, and can accommodate about 280 people.

There has been some opposition from the community to the development, and five area residents spoke out against the proposal during Monday's council meeting.  

Those residents continued to call for a public meeting to allow GWBI to present the full scope of its plans for the campus. 

At least one councillor was in favour of that idea, putting forward a motion to table the vote on the development application until such a meeting could be held. 

"I just feel that there has been a lot of questions asked, and this kind of growth is monstrous," Coun. Martina MacDonald said. 

But other councillors said they had no grounds to disallow the application, given that it meets all requirements in the town's official plan and development bylaws. The build has also received environmental approval from the P.E.I. government, having been outlined in GWBI's master plan for the site, which was approved in 2018. 

A Three Rivers official said during the meeting that the plans and related documents are publicly available on the provincial Department of Environment's website. 

MacDonald's motion to delay the vote was defeated, and council ultimately approved the development in a 6-2 vote. 

The development comes at a time when the province has ordered the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission to investigate the land holdings of both GWBI and the Great Enlightenment Buddhist Institute Society (GEBIS), an organization of Buddhist monks living on the Island.

The significant land holdings of the two groups have been the topic of speculation and controversy for years. 

In recent months, that speculation has led to accusations against members of Three Rivers council and even safety concerns for council members, who have maintained all along that issues of land ownership fall within provincial jurisdiction.

P.E.I.'s Lands Protection Act limits land ownership in the province to 1,000 acres for individuals and 3,000 acres for corporations, with exceptions for additional non-arable land or land that is leased out to other people and companies.