Sri Lankan Buddhist temple planned for Nicholls

Nicholls is set to become home to a second Buddhist place of worship, with a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple planned for the Gungahlin suburb.

The $430,000 two-storey building is slated for a site on Kelleway Avenue east of the Nicholls shops, according to a development application lodged with the ACT Planning and Land Authority.

A shrine room, a library, washing facilities and toilets will be located on the ground floor, with private accommodation for a monk situated on the first floor.

The proposed Buddhist temple will be the second for the suburb if approved, joining the existing Chinese Hu Guo Bao En Temple on Colbert Close.

Construction of the newest building will be staged, with the temple eventually expanding to include a new shrine room. The existing shrine room will be converted into a reading room next to a planned library.

Meditation rooms will be built either side of the new shrine room as part of the third wave of construction, plus additional washroom facilities, storage and a refectory and kitchen, depending on the availability of funds.

The shrine room will be used as a place for meditation, the offering of food for monks, Buddhist sermons and weekend Buddhist teachings.

A small stupa, a circular structure used as a place for meditation, will be kept inside the original shrine room until a larger structure is built outside the temple.

A 16-space carpark is also planned at the Kelleway Avenue end of the block.

The development application details the likely opening hours and expected worship numbers at the proposed temple, with Sri Lankan Buddhist temples traditionally open to worshippers between 7am and 10pm, seven days a week.

“There is no specific time for worshipping,” according to the application.

“Unlike … Friday or weekend prayer time in other religions, there will not be any particular time one can expect large gatherings during the week.”

Worshippers are expected to largely visit the temple during weekday evening hours and throughout weekends, with larger groups of up to 40 worshippers expected on monthly full moon days, which are religiously significant.

An existing Saturday Buddhist teaching class for children in Gungahlin will be moved to the new temple once built.

Noise issues will not be a problem, according to the application: “all the activities in a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple [are] conducted in a very calm and quiet manner and in a very [serene] environment with no noise-generating activities”.

Correction: An earlier version of this story included an incorrect construction cost.