June 18, 2014 THE VILLADOM TIMES I • Page 13 Midland Park Residents want to keep mosque from opening in town More than 100 Midland Park residents turned out at last week’s meeting of the mayor and council to ask that the govern- ing body take action against the opening of an Islamic Center and mosque at a former church at the top of Irving Street. The Elzahra Education Foundation, Inc. has received a certificate of occu- pancy from the zoning officer to open at the former site of the Han Maum Reformed Church, a Korean congregation. The Foun- dation is under contract to purchase the 2.8-acre site for $2.1 million, and intends to make future improvements for another $250,000. The building, constructed by the Irving Park Christian Reformed Church in 1956, had previously housed an East- ern Christian School Association pre- school and New Life Ministries Christian Reformed Church. The property is zoned for residential use, and the homes around it range in price from the upper $400,000s to nearly a mil- lion dollars. Borough Attorney Robert Regan said that according to the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, a house of worship would be a permitted use in any zone. Additionally, he said, the building use is an existing condition and therefore is a grand- fathered use. “The law limits what the town can do. It can’t do anything to preclude a religious institution from being established,” Regan said in answer to a request that the coun- cil adopt an ordinance banning a house of worship from a residential area. The residents speaking expressed con- cerns about the establishment of yet another house of worship in town and its tax-exempt status; traffic and parking, being that the mosque attendees would be from out of town; the need for more police protection; noise, and their perceived change in the character of the community and a resulting decrease in property values. “We don’t need another church. We need more taxes,” said Lisa Fastuca of Hampshire Road. “This is about dollars and cents, not religious tolerance,” said Joan Petrocelli Doumas of Fourth Street. “I’m concerned about this new group, not about religion. Previous churches were built to serve a reli- gious need in the community. This group is from the outside,” she said, adding: “Let’s go back to where neighbors matter.” Jeff Streelman of Coombs Lane, asked why the borough had not pursued someone to develop the site for housing instead of a church use. “You could have offered tax breaks to a developer. Look at other options. The town is not going in the right direction,” Streel- man said. Regan said the town cannot force a sale to another use. “It’s not a governmen- tal decision. A property owner can sell to whomever he chooses,” Regan said. Marilyn Casson of Park Avenue asked why the governing body didn’t help the Korean congregation with its tax problems so it didn’t have to sell the property. Mayor Patrick “Bud’ O’Hagan said the town had indeed helped that church, by waiving interest payments and establishing a flexible, extended payment plan, which the church had not met. The church failed to file for tax-exempt status in 2010 despite several efforts by the tax assessor to contact its officials. It settled with the town for a total of $50,000 due, but after two extensions still owed $18,000, and went on the tax sale for that amount. John Peppes of Hampshire Road sug- gested the town now invoke eminent domain and purchase the property for use as a park or museum. O’Hagan said the town does not have the legal basis to condemn the property without a public purpose. “What would be the public purpose?”Regan said. “That the people don’t want the house of worship? Such a course of action would expose the town to heavy liability,” the attorney said. Scott Schmidt of Roetman Court asked that the town pass an ordinance to issue resident-only parking permits. O’Hagan said that avenue could be pursued at a later date if parking became an issue. Doumas asked what criteria the zoning officer had used to issue the certificate of occupancy, particularly as it relates to meet- ing parking requirements. She said that without knowing the number of congre- gants, the officer could not determine the required parking. She said the CO should be revoked if the criteria was not met. Regan said if she felt the zoning offi- cer had acted inappropriately, his decision could be appealed to the board of adjust- ment. Objectors would have 20 days from the decision,. However, that option is now moot, since the decision was rendered in April Melanie Lewis of Smith Lane was the only resident to speak out in support of the new house of worship. “These people will bring diversity to our town, and that won’t decrease the value of our homes,” she said. Outside the meeting, Irving Street resi- dent Mark Messner also expressed sup- port. “I live on Irving. I have no problem, as long as they are not speeding up Irving,” he said. “Two congregations ago, their mem- bers had a leadfoot.” Iman Moutaz Charaf said in a phone interview that his congregation is small, consisting of ten families, and that they anticipate having a good relationship with the neighbors. “They have nothing to be nervous or upset about. We are friendly, inclusive. We like neighbors; we want to become part of the community. We are people of faith; we believe in God and need to work together, not have bad feelings towards each other. They should see for themselves. They would be surprised. We have nothing to defend,” said Charaf. The iman said he does not expect a lot of people to congregate at the new mosque, since there are no regular services per se except during special religious ceremonies. He said that though he expects the congre- gation would grow, the 80 spaces the site now has would be sufficient for their needs. He said their weekend religious school would remain in Teaneck. Charaf said a minaret would not be con- structed at this time. “There will be no out- door call to prayer, and no shouting,” said Charaf. A part of the religion is to call to prayer five times a day, and residents wor- ried that the calls would disturb the neigh- borhood. According to its website, the Founda- tion, established in 1997, is a nonprofit religious educational organization that has been serving the Muslim community for over 20 years, meeting their religious, edu- cational, social and cultural needs through its Hidaya Weenend School and other programs. It offers youth activities, adult classes, marriage services and interfaith outreach programs.