However, the council and neighbours still opposed the development.
Resident Nick Reisis said neighbours were worried about increased traffic, car park safety, privacy for nearby homes, water run-off, light spillage and the new additions clashing with the area’s character.
Sirisha, a member of the Chinmaya Mission, inside their current Templestowe home.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Some objectors have previously complained about Mission attendees parking in front of their homes and chanting emanating from the house.
“I expect some noise, but as residents, we shouldn’t be expecting noise up to 12am without any sort of warning,” Reisis said.
Lawyer Rory O’Connor, acting for the Mission, emphasised the organisation had an existing use right to run classes. He argued the only question for the tribunal was whether the proposed building fit into the neighbourhood.
“It seeks to provide fit-for-purpose classrooms to replace an existing building that’s currently used to hold classes, but without the facilities and amenities that you’d expect for this type of use,” he said.
An artist’s render of Chinmaya Mission’s proposed extension to their existing home in Templestowe.Credit: Chinmaya Mission Australia
Chinmaya Mission board member Manish Sundarjee told The Age the proposal addressed some residents’ concerns by moving parking on-site, away from neighbouring driveways.
“We’re hoping that the finding of the tribunal will be a good outcome for us, the community, and – more importantly – the local residents,” he said.
“We’re working with them as a family. Yes, they’ve got some grievances, but we’re working with them.”
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Several planning disputes have emerged recently as once-small Hindu organisations struggle to find space to accommodate one of the fastest-growing religious cohorts in Australia.
On September 25, a council-approved plan to build a Hindu temple in Cranbourne South was rejected by VCAT after neighbours raised amenity concerns.
On August 5, the Ayyappa Seva Sangam congregation lost a VCAT bid to build a multi-storey Hindu temple and dining hall in Pearcedale on the Mornington Peninsula.
In April, the 50-year-old Hare Krishna temple in Albert Park faced calls from neighbours to relocate amid heightened concern about increased noise, traffic and smells.
Ayush Srivastava, vice president of the Chinmaya Mission in Melbourne, said his organisation had grown on the back of increasing Indian migration too, but was different to other Hindu strands as it focused on smaller philosophy classes for families.
Srivastava said attendance in Templestowe had not grown as fast as other Chinmaya Mission locations in Berwick, Craigieburn, Cranbourne, Glen Waverley and Point Cook.
But the Melbourne community was created in Templestowe after spiritual leader Swami Chinmayananda visited in 1984, and a follower decided to host a small study group at their Pioneer Drive home.
Srivastava said weekend classes in Templestowe are run for families, adults and children.
Vasudha Chaitanya, the 27-year-old resident monk and teacher, grew up in Melbourne and attended RMIT University before she travelled to Mumbai to study Advaita Vedanta – a school of Hindu thought.
“This culture had such a strong pull because it’s the idea of finding inner fulfillment in this infinite sense,” she said.
“And I just noticed that I tried so much else in my life, but you would never get that same sense of fulfillment.”
Manningham council’s director of city planning Andrew McMaster said the council was opposed to the size and scale of the Mission’s proposed expansion – not the existing land use.
“We are committed to listening to and supporting our diverse communities, while ensuring development in Manningham complies with all relevant statutory and safety requirements,” he said.
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