Across Long Island, mosques are stirring disputes

The conflict over the proposed rebuilding of the Selden mosque is one of several disputes on Long Island pitting supporters of new, expanding or reopening mosques or Islamic centers against local residents.

Two projects in Bethpage and one each in Medford and New Hyde Park also have generated complaints from neighbors this year. The fate of all four projects is unclear.

Some attendees of the Selden mosque have said they believe anti-Muslim bias has fueled protests. Activists in those neighborhoods cite parking, traffic and safety concerns.

In Bethpage, a judge refused in September to order the Town of Oyster Bay to reopen Masjid al-Baqi after the town closed it for code violations in July. Mosque leaders have said they were officially shut out on Aug. 10, the eve of Ramadan.

Mosque president Syed Majid said mosque leaders are cooperating with the town to get the permits they need to reopen.

"Everyone thinks the town was just against us," Majid said. "It's not like that."

Also in Bethpage, a group of Muslims purchased an empty Jewish community center in March with the intention of converting it to a mosque. More than 100 people called or e-mailed Town Hall to protest it.

Mosque leaders have applied to the town for an assembly license they need to operate the facility as a mosque, said member Aliasgar Dhoon.

"All we can do is just request to expedite it," Dhoon said. "Time-wise, it hasn't been out of the ordinary."

In Medford, some members of the Selden mosque also want to build a new 4,000-square-foot mosque off Granny Road on a site where they say they use a single-family home to worship. The Suffolk County Planning Commission is reviewing the request.

Some neighbors, including Sean Noblett of Medford, question whether the mosque - and a proposed parking lot of more than 50 spaces - is too big for the neighborhood.

"I have a problem with the massiveness of it," Noblett said.

New Hyde Park residents complained last month that a proposed parking lot at Hillside Islamic Center could worsen traffic and decrease property values.

The center has asked the Town of North Hempstead's Board of Zoning Appeals for a variance to convert a residential property into a parking lot to create 18 spaces. The board is considering the request, North Hempstead officials said.