Sikh Temple Project Put On Hold

February 3, 2009

Author: Tom Lochner

Source: West County Times

http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_11621187?source=rss

An expansion of the Sikh temple of El Sobrante is on hold, after the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday asked for more information on the project's environmental impacts.

The board was hearing an appeal of a Nov. 18 county Planning Commission decision endorsing the project along with a Mitigated Negative Declaration of Environmental Impact. A public hearing on the appeal opened Tuesday and was supposed to continue Feb. 24, but now is expected to resume in six to eight weeks.

Gurdwara Sahib Sikh Center of San Francisco Bay Area wants to add a community center, performing arts center and museum totaling 70,000 square feet over the next 12 to 15 years. The existing temple, which includes classrooms, offices and a dining hall, is about 22,000 square feet. Temple leaders had said they wanted to break ground by summer.

The appellants, El Sobrante Valley Planning and Zoning Advisory Committee and Quail Hill Homeowners Association, say the mitigated negative declaration does not adequately address their concerns regarding traffic, parking, noise, possible landslides, drainage, wildlife and emergency vehicle access.

Supervisor John Gioia, too, said Tuesday that more discussion is needed on many of those topics.