Brookfield council OKs Sikh community’s proposed expanded worship space

The Brookfield Common Council on Oct. 17 approved Gurduara Brookfield-Wisconsin‘s proposal to combine two lots and build a larger religious congregation near a site they have used for 26 years.

The society will build a new worship and meeting space, called a gurdwara, that will be two and a half times larger than its current congregation. Project officials said they plan to break ground in the spring of 2024.

City officials approved the society’s proposal for a certified survey map to combine two parcels, 3625 and 3675 N. Calhoun Road, to form a 10-acre lot.

Currently, the society uses a Baptist church built in 1961 for religious gatherings and proposed construction because the building is undersized, deteriorating and non-descript, according to a proposal from Brookfield-based architecture and engineering firm Patera. Patera served as the owner’s representative and architect for the defining congregation. The group has operated at its current location since 1996.

According to project plans, the three-story building will have sprinklers, multiple entrances and a religious hall for gatherings of around 250 people. Around 100-150 people will attend services on Sundays and Wednesdays. Construction will include paving 160 off-street parking spaces, and a location for an additional 56 off-street parking spaces to be built in the future if needed.

When the new building is completed, the religious community will transition out of the existing masonry building, Patera officials said. The previous church will be razed and landscaped over, officials added.

The structure’s overall height will be 34 feet, with 5 feet, 5 inches to the parapet, city plans showed. The building will have four 73-foot-tall ornamental domes and spires.

Brookfield officials discuss spire height after Wheel & Sprocket

The city approved a conditional-use permit for the congregation, but not without questioning from alderpersons. Alderman Jason Anderson, who represents the third district, pointed back to the previously rejected five-story Wheel & Sprocket development when he asked about the gurdwara’s spires. He said at the meeting the 73-foot-tall spires would tower over nearby houses “in several blocks at a minimum.”

“The last few months with the Wheel & Sprocket development, there was so much angst against the building height. We had numerous meetings where we discussed building height and concerns from residents,” Anderson added.

Alderman Mike Hallquist, who represents the fourth district and serves on the city plan commission, said it wasn’t an apples-to-apples comparison between commercial and religious property.

“Big difference between Wheel & Sprocket and a religious institution. Not just legally, but certainly morally. I understand there are concerns with height. I have a significant concern of control or domineering of religious expression, of which I’m sure many people on this Common Council do. Not only if we choose to modify the height of a building, where we risk serious legal repercussions, I’d say there are some individual moral repercussions,” Hallquist added.

Alderman Gary Makhorn, who represents the fifth district and also serves on the Plan Commission, drew a comparison to the St. John Vianney Catholic Parish, across the street from Brookfield City Hall, which has a 94-foot-tall spire. Allowing the new spire was consistent with allowing other religious buildings in the area, he noted.

“We’re being consistent. … I look at this stuff and I think this is symbolic of worship. I want to embrace that with all religious institutions in our city. … It is consistent with our planning in the past.” Makhorn added.

Spires are one of the structures excepted from height restrictions in local city code, according to a report from the plan commission. If the domes and spires were required at a lower height, it may create a situation where the building is no longer proportional in its design, the report added.

Another alderperson asked about the residential use of the building. Priests will be on site at all hours and the congregation will have space for regular visiting priests, but not for the public, said Nathan Remitz, an architect and partner at Patera.

In May, Brookfield alders voted 11-3 to rezone land for Heimat Group and Wheel & Sprocket’s proposal for a mixed-use apartment complex and bicycle store. The development was the subject of multiple hearings, which drew some heated comments from both residents and officials.