By Karishma Patel
A Sikh Gurdwara located in Toronto
Guelph, Ontario (CHAKRA) – A southside domed Sikh temple has caused a hostile receptiveness by residents of a rapidly growing upscale residential neighbourhood. A public planning meeting is where the temple plans were discussed among city staff.
“It’s a huge change for all of us. I’m against that building — period,” Monica Paredes said. Many of the audience applauded loudly at the Salvation Army Citadel.
The Guelph Sikh Society is applying for permission to construct a 2 ½-storey, 18,000-square-foot, multi-domed temple with a holding capacity of 400 worshippers at a time. A parking lot for 169 vehicles is also needed alongside the temple. The greenfield land on Clair Road was originally slated for a nursing home. Another public meeting will be held on March 1st to further discuss the plans.
The city-sponsored meeting on Tuesday was scheduled to clear up any misunderstandings, but the bitterness in the large meeting room was apparent, including a suggestion made which requested for councillors that were for the temple project to be faced with consequences.
“Anybody supporting this will be making a career-limiting decision,” said Glenn Carducci. He publicized that he recently created an anti-temple website (www.stop-the-temple.info), whose group mailed flyers to 2,469 homes around the area of the temple site. The group also circulated a petition during the meeting to oppose the construction plans.
Carducci also said that the temple was too big for the neighbourhood, parking is not feasible, and that the area is better-suited for a form of small-institutional use. He stated that there should be better areas is the city for which the temple is suited.
Carducci stated that opposition for the temple building has grown because of the website.
“We have a lot of volunteers now.”
Other members who were part of the audience at the meeting kept stressing that the temple would not fit in with the neighbourhood, and only dominate the neighbourhood instead.
“I think the biggest problem is people don’t really understand how we operate,” Guelph Sikh Society vice-president Dr. Ravi Rai told them. The not-so-large sized temple will only be used on Sundays and some Saturdays mainly for worshipping and occasionally for other society events.
He also stated that the temple would be open for use to the community and neighbourhood as a community centre at other times, just like some Christian churches in the neighbourhood.
However, audience member Stacy Cooper said that residents pay taxes to follow the bylaws, and the temple proposal does not follow the official plan. She also stressed that the road capacity would be taken up by the temple, while contributing no taxes to the city.
“It’s a sore point for a lot of us,” she said.
Planning regulations do allow for changes, provided that they meet general planning guidelines, said Katie Nasswetter, city senior development planner.
“Planning documents are not static,” Nasswetter said.
However, Scott Hannah, manager of development and parks noted that the planning process in place calls for more public input and staff recommendations in the future before the fate of the site is declared. There is an appeal process as well which can be made to the Ontario Municipal Board, he said.
“The purpose tonight is to share information with the community,” a former City Councillor, Cathy Downer said. She was the meeting moderator for the night.
A man in the audience wanted to know exactly why Sikhs preferred to have their temple built specifically on the Clair Road site.
“The Sikh community has been looking for sites … a number of sites,” Sikh Society lawyer John Valeriote responded.
Carducci said that the temple would damage sewers and other city services.
“There isn’t an issue with capacity of the sewers,” Hannah said, noting the in the following few days, the services would be examined by staff.
Carducci predicted that the site will not be granted for the temple because neighbourhood roads will prove inadequate. Other people at the meeting raised questions about the aesthetic appeal of the area if a dome shaped temple was put in. They felt that it would not go well with the urban, modern look of the neighbourhood. Others were concerned about whether only local Sikhs would attend the temple, or if Sikhs from other areas would come as well.
Valeriote said ultimately a temple is no different to a community than a church.
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