A Hindu community in Cambridge is running into trouble as it tries to build a new temple for itself.
The Cambridge Hindu Society currently operates out of a 2,100-square-foot building on Old Mill Road.
Nearly 20 years ago, the organization bought a parcel of land at Cherry Blossom Road and Boxwood Drive. An agreement was reached that no new temple would be built until water and sewer services had been extended to that corner of the city.
Those services are now in place, and the Hindu Society says it’s raised the majority of the money it needs to begin building a new home nearly three times the size of its current one.
“That’s our dream to fulfill,” Dwarka Persaud, the organization’s president, said in an interview.
Although the Hindu Society owns the land, it needs to be rezoned for it to be used as a temple.
The issue went before Cambridge’s planning and development committee last week, with a representative from Toyota – which has a manufacturing plant neighbouring the proposed temple site – speaking against allowing the rezoning.
“They feel they have a lot of industry there and they would prefer not to have anything further on that site,” said Coun. Donna Reid, who added that Toyota’s opposition “came as a bit of a surprise” to her.
According to Reid, Toyota’s issues included concerns about “compatibility” and traffic levels.
Persaud says he has trouble understanding why traffic would be a problem given that the temple is busiest on Sunday mornings.
“There isn’t a lot of traffic around Toyota on Sunday mornings,” he said.
The planning and development committee has yet to decide on whether to allow the rezoning.
With reporting by Natalie van Rooy
