GUELPH—Now five years in the works, hampered along the way by planning hurdles and some neighbourhood opposition, Guelph's Sikh temple construction project has now hit a seasonal snag.
In a recent interview, Guelph Sikh Society spokesperson Dr. Ravi Rai said construction on the south end structure won't begin this fall as expected. Builders will wait until spring to begin, with the work on the estimated $4 million building to take about seven months.
All the loans, permits and approvals are in place, Rai said, but the society was advised to hold off starting the construction until March, 2015, both to avoid cold weather challenges and to save money on interest charges.
Rai said the plan has evolved from a proposed two-phase building schedule to a single-phase.
"We basically went through all the blueprints and drawings, and that's been approved by the city," Rai said. "It was not done until recently, and we were waiting for that. But everything is cleared now, all approved by the city. We wanted to start in the fall, and we have the bank loan approval and everything else."
But with winter coming, the Sikh community decided to start building in March to avoid any complications that cold weather might bring.
"We are good to go in March," he asserted, adding that the local community continues to raise funds for the project locally and in other Sikh communities. Rai said it is preferable to pay for the building as much as possible through community-based donations rather than bank loans.
"The money we have right now, we can start using it but then we'll end up paying interest on that," he said. "Financial people have told us that if we do it in March and April it will be much better for us. And construction will not be very fast in winter, but if we start in March or April it will be much faster that way."
Shortly after the proposal to build a Sikh temple on Clair Road was made public, city council received letters opposing it and heard complaints about it. Some of those opinions were based in negative attitudes towards the Sikh faith, while others opposed the building of the temple in a residential subdivision. An Ontario Municipal Board appeal that challenged the proposal was later withdrawn.
Rai said the opposition prepared the Sikh community for future challenges related to getting the project off the ground, and helped ensure that the broader community was part of the discussion.
"We wanted to take everybody along with us, and I think everybody is on board with us," he added. "I am very happy that people in the area all know what is happening and how we are doing it. They are part of the temple project."