Kelowna Sikh congregation passes major hurdle to establishing a new place of worship

Members of a Kelowna Sikh congregation said they are encouraged by city council's support of their plan to establish a new place of worship, despite a conflict with the proposed location and the city's Official Community Plan (OCP).

About 75 members of the Gurdwara Guru Amardas Darbar Sikh Society attended city hall on Monday as council debated the a re-zoning application for a parcel of agricultural land the society wants to build a new gurdwara.

The society wants to relocate their place of worship to a two-and-a-half-acre site on Benvoulin Road, which is zoned agricultural land, although not a part of the Agricultural Land Reserve.

The land is in an area of the city slated to remain designated as future agricultural use and would require the city to amend the OCP in order for the congregation to build their gurdwara there. 

City council overrides staff objection

City council voted 8-1 to allow the application to proceed to a public hearing.

The move went against a staff report advising against the proposal, citing long standing city objectives to protect and preserve agricultural land.

Aman Hundal, a member of the Sikh congregation who is helping spearhead the gurdwara relocation project, said he was encouraged by council's support of the plan at this stage in the process.

"We were very pleased. This has been a long journey for us," Hundal said. 

"We have been working over the last number of years and it was quite a milestone for us to see that the project is actually moving forward to the next phase."

The congregation, which is composed of about 100 families, has outgrown its current location, Hundal said, adding that the new gurdwara would allow for parking, outdoor play areas for children, and more indoor space to hold community events. 

Concerns of urban expansion into agricultural land

As city council debated the proposal, Mohini Singh implored her colleagues to allow the project to move onto the next stage in the approval process. 

"They are in dire need of a new facility," Singh said.

"It meets the spiritual needs of our farming community, so I think it behooves our council to consider taking this to a public hearing." 

Luke Stack was the lone vote on council against the project, citing a need for council to limit urban growth into rural areas.

"Those goals were to protect our farmland and in the Benvoulin area particularly," Stack said. 

"We are compromising our decision to hold the line on the permanent growth boundary."

'Diversity is a strength'

Staff also raised the issue of existing traffic congestion in the area.

Hundal said he hopes the congregation can work with the city and neighbours to find solutions to traffic concerns, saying establishing the gurdwara at the location would bring benefits to the area. 

"[We have an] open door policy. Even in the area that we are in we have a very good relationship with all of our neighbours," he said 

"The changing fabric of Kelowna — I think diversity is a strength and I think that over time that the neighbours in that part of the community will see that as well."