Bethpage mosque closed after code violation complaints

The Town of Oyster Bay has closed a Bethpage mosque due to code violations after local residents pressed the town to inspect the property, sending about 200 congregation members elsewhere during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

An attorney for the mosque said the closure of Masjid al-Baqi, on Central Avenue, came Tuesday, the day before Ramadan began. But town officials say the building actually was ordered closed on July 29.

Town Supervisor John Venditto said the mosque did not have a valid certificate of occupancy or permits for already finished work. A town inspector issued a summons July 29.

Eric Tilton, a Garden City lawyer for the mosque's leaders, said the town agreed to let the mosque remain open last Friday and Saturday, and officially closed it Tuesday. Town officials said they made no such agreement.

On Wednesday, mosque leaders filed a petition in State Supreme Court in Mineola for a temporary restraining order to reopen the mosque. They withdrew the motion Thursday to continue negotiating with Oyster Bay, Tilton said.

Friday afternoon, some mosque members still came for Friday prayers, only to see a yellow sign on the door with the heading, "Dangerous Building."

Some questioned the town's timing. "I'm shocked to see that it's closed," said one member, Moin Khan, 25, of Copiague. "Especially in Ramadan. . . . When something like this happens, it's tough."

Venditto acknowledged that Oyster Bay's building department sent an inspector to Masjid al-Baqi only after more than 100 residents called or e-mailed the town to complain about a proposal for a second mosque in Bethpage. In March, another group of Muslims had purchased an empty Jewish community center with the intention of converting it.

Some of the residents who complained also wanted the town to check Masjid al-Baqi, which opened about 10 years ago and has been "a very good tenant," Venditto said. The mosque owns the property.

According to Fred Ippolito, the town's planning and development commissioner, the e-mails did not cite any evidence of code violations.

A town building inspector found problems with the building's plumbing and missing permits for electrical work and other alterations, according to the July 29 summons. Venditto also said houses of worship are required by the town to have one acre of land, and Masjid al-Baqi has just one-half acre. The property previously was a restaurant.

By Tuesday, Tilton argued, the mosque had obtained an electrical approval certificate and had started to fix problems with the plumbing, including a gas leak in the kitchen.

"They could have left it open," he said of town inspectors, calling the timing to close the mosque "quite suspect."

Ippolito said the town actually closed the building well before Tuesday. "The notices were placed on the window that the building was not permitted to be used, and they removed them," he said.

Members of the congregation are scattered among different area mosques, and others are praying at home, mosque president Syed Majid said. "If somebody makes a mistake, and the backlash is on somebody else, that's wrong," Majid said. "But we cannot control that."

Venditto defended the town's actions. "It's very fair to say that the proposed mosque brought attention to other mosques in the community," he said. "But the fact that that's the reason we're there doesn't change our responsibility."