Everyone at the meeting on February 16th, 2010, said while speaking to each other said, “this will be spun as racism and discrimination”. True to form that is exactly what this City has done. Seems odd the story that appeared on the 17th did not have that spin, yet today, here it is.
This is my understanding of the situation, and I do live in Westminster Woods. The proposed location has been zoned for a Long Term Care Facility, which we are all happy with. As far as I know there is no law on what race, colour, religious belief, etc. that can utilize and reside in this proposed facility. Before City Council start responding with the Long Term Care Facility can go in other places. So can the Sikh Temple.
Personally I was looking forward to the Long Term Care Facility in our location, as there is not much in the way of facilities that our residents and children can use their potential in volunteering and employment. This would go a long way in providing both in very close proximity to our homes, not to mention a place for our elderly parents to be housed. The community of Westminster Woods has no opposition to the Long Term Care Facility that I know of and again this facility as far as I know has no racial issue. For anyone interested there is very limited ability to house someone requiring this sort of facility in the whole Wellington County. The location in Westminster Woods has been planned and zoned already and your tax dollars have already been spent.
The city did try to explain to us about the floor space of the “Application for the proposed temple”, which has been submitted uncapped. Uncapped means that the Temple could continue to expand far beyond the 18,000 sq.-ft. that is requested without any opposition by the community. All that will be required is the purchase of a building permit. That is how I understand it. The city also indicated that the capacity is 400 worshipping at any one time. The basement, which it will have, is not counted in the floor space is it is not required to be. That does not mean that a function of any type could not be happening while the main and second floor is being used. There is parking for 167 cars. I have no education in the planning department but even I see that as a problem.
Dr. Rai, wondering “if there would have been as much opposition to a Christian church on that site”, is a racial comment so please do not point your finger at me. It is also my understanding that when the Roman Catholic diocese of Hamilton wanted to purchase land or did, I am unsure if it happened, the city was very opposed to a Catholic Church being building in our subdivision. Mr. Valeriote’s comment is interesting indeed and I don’t think the community was even aware of this fact until now. I also believe that the Catholic church is being build by the High School, not in the middle of the subdivision.
Mr. Valeriote I am very optimistic that the temple will be built in a location other than the Westminster Subdivision, or is that a done deal? Karl Wettstein said, “Hopefully the next couple of phases of the project will give people enough quality information and answers to their questions that perhaps some of the emotions can be dealt with”. Mr. Wettstein, are you listening to the people you are representing or does your ear stop at Pineridge. We are the people you are supposed to represent, so please do that and stop referring to us as people that are emotionally distraught and with enough time we will get over our snit. I can assure you that is not what it is. I was at the meeting as stated earlier and not once did I hear anyone say they were opposed to the temple being built, only opposed to the location in our subdivision. It feels just terrible that people that are going to make the decision on this issue are people who think that how we feel is unimportant. People at the south end have known for a long time that city counsel has not put our needs front and centre but I must say that comments made by this Mayor and one of our own Ward 6 counsellors is very surprising. If you were truly there on Wednesday night you would have seen just how multicultural our subdivision is and how many languages were spoken in frustration of not being understood.
I have to ask the Sikh community, why not another location? JS