Author: PTI
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: October 6, 2004
URL: http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEL20041005043944&Title=NRIs&Topic=0
A proposal to build a Hindu temple
and a cultural centre, tipped as the largest in southern California, is
causing much disconcert in the Chino Hills area, a media report said here
on Tuesday.
The project ran into rough weather
following protests from the local residents, after which the Chino Hills
city council blocked it last month, refusing to allow the height of the
temple's spires to exceed the city's limit.
Local Hindu leaders are now struggling
to decide whether to fight the decision in court or to continue their four-year
search for a home for southern California's growing Hindu population.
"Our issue was very clear. We would
like it to be an asset to the community," Govind Vaghashia, spokesman for
the project proponent Bochasanwasi Shree Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan
Sanstha (BAPS), was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.
Chino residents have protested vehemently
against the temple, saying it would generate too much traffic, ruin the
city's atmosphere and become an unwanted regional attraction.
Objections also surfaced from opponents
who said the project would turn Chino Hills into a "third world city" and
"a haven for terrorists."
One petition to stop the project
said, the temple would play a role in "changing the city's demographics
forever."
The fight over the temple in Chino
Hills is the latest in a series of skirmishes around the country in recent
years over plans to build bigger houses of worship, land use experts said.
The battle over the 1,64,372-square-ft
temple and cultural centre dates back to 1989, when BAPS representatives
made plans to build the structure on a 15-acre plot near the commercial
centre of the city.
But city officials had plans to
build a civic centre on the same property. Under a deal negotiated between
the city administration and representatives of the project, BAPS let the
council buy the land and city officials in turn promised to help find an
alternative site in Chino Hills, the paper reported.
After seeing 20 locations in over
four years, BAPS chose the 20- acre property east of the Chino Valley freeway.
As word spread about the project,
locals began to flood city hall with letters and e-mails, most of them
opposing the project.
Many said, it would clash with the
city's atmosphere. Opponents also voiced concern about the potential traffic
generated by the project.
But a report that included an analysis
by a private consultant and a study at a similarly sized Hindu facility
in another town concluded that the project would not create traffic problems.
"Anybody who keeps coming up with
traffic as an issue is not listening," Mayor Gary G. Larson, the only member
of the council to consistently vote for the project, said.
Some of the opponents were also
worried that the temple would draw Hindus to live in the city.
"Unless you want the current demographics
to look a bit like New Delhi, don't do this," said an e-mail dated August
9, 2003. Another letter suggested Muslim extremists might blend in among
Hindu worshippers, making the temple a "hiding place for terrorists."
BAPS representatives have refused
to reduce the height of the spires, saying the design was based on proportions
dictated in Hindu scriptures, the report said.
Vaghashia said local BAPS leaders
will confer with religious leaders in India to decide what steps to take
now.
Some project supporters believe
the council was swayed by opponents, who threatened to recall or vote against
council members who supported it.
