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| Queens Tribune |
Community Board 7 turned down an application for a mosque to be built on Parsons Boulevard and disapproved another by a manufacturer seeking to expand its facility in College Point.
The board unanimously denied an application by not-for-profit Masjid-e-Noor to build a mosque at 46-05 Parsons Blvd. on the grounds that it did not fit the character of the neighborhood amid concerns about the building’s architectural integrity. The board tabled a vote on the proposal in January.
The issue is more than just the application not matching the character of the neighborhood, according to Chuck Apelian, CB 7’s first vice chairman.
Apelian said that more congregants would be attending the mosque than the group anticipates.
“There is great doubt and concern about the integrity of the presentation and the need of their program spaces for this site,” Apelian said.
Concerns included the group’s request for bulk waivers to exceed the maximum community facility floor area allowed in the property’s zoning district, which is designated for residential housing.
The developers also sought to change the mandated floor area ratio of 0.5 in the R2 district — zoned for single-family homes — to 1.045, cut down two trees and waive the yard and parking requirements to address the property’s irregular shape.
The property is an oddly shaped 4,773-square-foot corner lot, according to an Aug. 22 statement of facts and findings prepared for the city Board of Standards and Appeals by Simons & Wright. The group anticipated the mosque would serve about 420 worshipers, 95 percent of whom live in the mosque’s 11355 zip code.
Two floors would house the prayer rooms, one for 210 men and the other for 210 women because they pray separately. On weekends, the imam or the religious scholars would hold Quranic classes to teach roughly 100 students.
Board member Tyler Cassell, a member of the land use committee, said the committee voted to deny the application, but he proposed an alternative.
The Mormon Church on 144-27 Sanford Ave., whose site contains a six-story apartment building with 13,300 square feet and a parking lot for about 25 vehicles, is moving to a different site and could accommodate the mosque’s needs, Cassell said.
16 comments:
There should be a moratorium on most construction. There's noo room left!
A lot of people from Queens died on 9/11 all these super mosques are becoming too in your fase but what the hell America is dying a slow death so let them build and let them cheer from the roof for all to hear the next time and there will be a next time the religion of peace commits mass murder
As a surviver of 9/11 this is a slap in the face and CB7 is afraid to say no but will find them another site
Never Forget just became a slogan and bumper sticker.
Good for CB 7. I keep reading about churches that purchase a building that does NOT satisfy their needs then they apply for variances so they can break all the rules and impose huge buildings and construction on their innocent neighbors.
When will an elected official pass a law that doesn't allow them to do this?
Good. We don't need a freaking jihad here with them blowing us up. If they want to build mosques they can go back to the middle east.
There is a mosque located off Northern Blvd. near the old Quartet theater.
Never forget 9-11....but in addition to Islam, Catholics and Protestants have killed thousands over the years.
Let's not forget the order of the inquisition....kill 'em to save their souls. Then we have Oliver Cromwell destroying Catholic Churches.
I am with George the "A". Organized religion is poison. Faith is divine.
Then let all religious houses of worship go back to their country of origin. Disregard for contextual zoning is another matter.
But will BSA follow the advice of CB7? BSA is pro-developers, as we all know.
I'm pretty sure George the "A" does not think "faith is divine".
Thankfully CB7 rejected the attempt to shoe-horn a building of this out-of-character size and capacity in a clearly unsuitable site. Hopefully down the line, the BSA will make the final rejection of this project's excessive variances, and uphold our residential community's hard-fought zoning laws.
With other community facilities already located on 3 of the 4 corners, as well as the MTA 26 bus stop directly in front of this proposed site, this intersection is already saturated with the traffic of cars fruitlessly searching for non-existing parking spaces. The last thing we need is a 4th.
Someone did not get a payoff or some ethnic group got into a hussy fit over the Muslims.
No problem - each generation as its Irish or Italian. Look at this as a hazing phase for initiation in the all embracing Party Structure.
They will get what they want but, in good party parlance, they have to 'wait their turn.'
The real story is why do we go through the motions of zoning and regulations when their true effect is determined exclusively by the applicant's use and effectiveness to the party.
If you got juice, then you can pretty do much of whatever your want with perhaps some petty fine slapped on your wrists to make the gullible public happy to think that 'justice as been done.'
CB7 better reconsider or a few Heads may have to roll if you get my point
👳
They really need to be a little more creative. How on gods earth can you tell them that it doesn't fit the character of the neighborhood when you have these asians putting up shit boxes with pink brick, ugly fake stainless fencing, balusters that don't belong and the other out of character elements. Not going to hold up at BSA.
Plenty of room in Staten Island. Hehe
I can't think of a single thing to say about Civic Virtue in this thread.
To Anonymous,
Religions don't have a country of origin. Muslims originate in every country just like Christians and Jews. What an ignorant statement. There are plenty of Muslims born and raised in New York who had nothing to do with 9/11 and the sick ideology of terrorists ( by the way terrorists come in all religions).
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