Bid to rezone land for new Kelowna Sikh temple fails to win city staff support

Photo: Contributed

Site of a proposed new Kelowna Sikh Temple, or Gurdwara, on Benvoulin Road.

City of Kelowna planners are opposed to locating a new Sikh temple on agricultural land in the city's Benvoulin Road area.

In a report going to city council on Monday, staff recommends rejecting the application to rezone the property for the proposed large new temple, or Gurdwara, because it is in what staff say is an “important agricultural corridor for both existing agricultural activity and heritage.”

“Official Community Plan (OCP) policies specifically discourage public or private institutional use, including places of religious assembly, on agricultural lands,” says the report.

Although not within the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR), the property is designated and zoned for agriculture and directly borders ALR land.

Under city policies, any urban development is discouraged in areas outside of the (city’s) permanent growth boundary to minimize development and speculative pressure on agricultural lands.

“Based on these overall OCP policies, the planning department is recommending non-support for the proposed OCP and rezoning amendments to facilitate future religious assembly on the subject property.”

The Sikh community in Kelowna has gradually outgrown its current place of assembly and worship at 220 Davie Road in Rutland and wants to build a new Gurdwara for its growing community.

A search for a suitable location has taken place over the past few years and finding a new location for the larger congregation has proved challenging, according to the city.

The subject property is located at 2809 Benvoulin Road and has access from Boyd Road to the south. It is located north of the KLO-Benvoulin Road intersection near the intersection with Munson Road and is approximately 2.25 acres in size.

The proposal calls for the Gurdwara to be a two-and-a-half-storey, 2,335-square-metre building located in the centre of the property and would include areas for worship, as well as classrooms, office space and washrooms. The primary access would be from Boyd Road.

The remainder of the property would be used for parking, landscaping, an agricultural buffer and vegetable and fruit gardens.

The agricultural buffer is proposed to be eight metres wide and stretch the length of the north and east property boundaries, separating it from the nearby active agriculture and adjacent ALR land.

Approximately 206-square-metres along the northeast property line is proposed to be used for a vegetable garden to provide a link to area agriculture and to grow food to be donated to the community.

In partnership with The Bridge Youth and Family Services, the local Sikh society will donate vegetables to that organization.

Council will consider the issue and receive the staff report on Monday afternoon during its regular council meeting.