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(continued)
On Tuesday, September 14, 2004 over 1,200 people attended the meeting between the city of Chino Hills and BAPS representatives. In order to accommodate the number of people, the meeting was moved to the Chino Hills High School gymnasium. The basketball hoops had been folded up for the night but there was still a game to be won. Two teams stood on the hardwood floors; divided only by the painted half- court line at the center of a varnished wooden court. Team one, led by BAPS, were in support of the temple’s being built and included various city notables both Indian and non-Indian, as well as one city -council member, Mayor Gary Larson. Team two was against the temple being built and cited too much traffic and an unfavorable change in the community as their main issuesargumentsobjections. They were led by the “Just Say No” Committee, an opposition group, as well asin addition to many city residents and the remaining four members of the city council who were on their side.
The meeting started promptly at 6:00 p.m., as BAPS volunteers and temple supporters handed out bright- orange, circularle “YES” stickers and highlighter- yellow “VOTE YES” signs. The opposition had no such materials upon arrival. But team members left and returned an hour later with bright green “VOTE NO” signs, according to Divyesh Patel, the temple’s public relations manager, who was present at that night’s meeting. After nearly an hour of PowerPoint presentations explaining the selection of the site made by community development directors and architects, Rakesh Patel, representing BAPS, presented one last PowerPoint explaining the temple and its type of Shikharbadh Mandir, the traditional stone temples with domes and pinnacles normally built of sandstone and marble. He explained that the architecture of the actual temple is 8,000 years old and in order for the temple to be authentic, it must be built to exact specifications and religious proportions as established in scripture; compromising on any part of the temple would distort it and thus distort its meaning and significance. A debate began and words jumbled in the air as each side made their statement. Most in opposition feared that the culture complex and temple would create too much traffic in their neighborhood and draw unnecessary attention to their quiet and rural community. While supporters felt that a place of worship could never be an eyesore and it would be an honor to be home to such a landmark project.
At 1:26 am, after nearly seven hours of debateing, the hearing came to a close. The city council voted 4- to-o 1 to approve the project’s permits but rejected the extra height that BAPS requested, which would have allowed the temple to stand at 73 feet, exceeding the 42-foot city height limit. The final vote meant that the council was accepting the temple, but effectively prohibiting it from being built.
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A year later, on September 4, 2005, construction of the Swaminarayan Chino Hills Cultural Center and Temple began. Since then, work has progressed at a steady pace. Volunteers gather every weekend to help plant trees, place tiles, install speakers, and run the small snacks and sweets shop neatly placed in the corner of the reception hall. Along with donations, the traditional snacks and sweets, which are all made on site and adhere to the special Swami vegetarian diet of no onion or garlic, are the temple’s main source of income. Meanwhile the, a cultural center, two gymnasiums, classrooms, living quarters for the Swamis, and gardens are all complete. The only part of the 164,372-foot facility that the volunteers, architects, and artisans from Rajasthan, India are unable to work on is the temple. Instead they continue to attend council hearings along with community supporters to push the city to accept a 71-foot tall temple.
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