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Bids for the temple, estimated to be built for $4 million, came back $2 million and $3 million over budget.
And nothing has been done to the land since a groundbreaking ceremony last August, attended by about 100 worshippers, including several Sikh religious leaders from India.
"I think this will be one of the best things for the community," said Live Oak resident Gurnam Singh Pamma, who farms 1,600 acres in the area and donated the land for the temple site. "We wanted to do something in God's name."
Temple officials have changed engineers and are planning to resubmit modified plans to the city in the next several months.
City Manager Jim Goodwin said the project has been on hold as temple leaders chose not to move forward with the original plans.
Temple officials are grateful the city was willing to work with them on reducing fees from roughly $570,000 to $300,000 last November when they adopted two new ordinances that amended the city's municipal code.
The temple project didn't fit well into the general land use category, Goodwin said.
"We were having a hard time developing a fair fee," Goodwin said. "We amended existing code to create the flexibility we were looking for."
Temple officials continue moving cautiously through the process in hopes of saving money.
"We're trying to keep the price down by using traditional steel form construction," said Sukhraj Singh Pamma, whose family donated nearly 11 acres for the proposed project. He expects that by using less custom steel design and making the facility slightly less ornate they can save about $800,000.
"We have a duty to our congregation to spend money wisely," Sukhraj said.
More than $1 million has been pledged to build a 25,000-square-foot complex consisting of three buildings in the 10400 block of Larkin Road. The main hall is expected be about 10,000 square feet, and the dining and multipurpose areas are planned to be around 7,500 square feet each.
Students from kindergarten through 12th grade are expected to be taught on site.
The complex will replace the aging Live Oak Temple in the 9900 block of P Street, which has been used by about 200 Live Oak and Gridley families for the past 36 years.
That facility, which is about 80 years old (and previously an Assembly of God church), is where Majit Singh Gosal said he learned to speak and write Punjabi.
"It was always fun to come here."
Still, he and Jaspal Singh Kular, both of Live Oak, are anxious to have a new gudwara (temple).
Once complete, the facility will be Yuba-Sutter's largest Sikh temple site.