A long-awaited expansion of a Buddhist temple on Richmond's Highway to Heaven is slowly taking shape, after more than two decades.
Earlier this week, the Richmond News spotted the giant concrete structure by the LingYen Mountain Temple on No. 5 Road.
Outlines of several buildings and pillars, along with cranes and other construction machinery, can be seen atop a base level with a set of stairs.
The construction is part of the temple's 94,000-square-foot expansion, which will include a parking structure with 385 stalls, a 90-foot high "Main Buddha Hall," living quarters for nuns and monks and a Buddhist education centre.
Construction of the LingYen Mountain Temple was completed in 1999. A piece of land was later purchased to allow the temple to expand and hold more events.
The process for the expansion, referred to by the temple as its "third phase" of construction, began in 2003 when the temple began submitting permit applications.
In 2014, its proposal included an expansion by almost 200,000 square feet that would have encroached on the farming portion of the property.
However, LingYen Mountain Temple ultimately scaled down its plans so that the expansion would be lower in height and incorporate fewer parking spaces. The expansion would also no longer encroach on farmland.
The proposal was approved by city council in 2016 and a building permit was granted on June 24, 2021.
For more information about LingYen Mountain Temple's expansion, click here.
With files from Maria Rantanen and Graeme Wood.
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