Brookhaven puts off vote on Selden mosque

The Brookhaven Town planning board Monday put off a vote on a controversial proposal to demolish and rebuild a mosque in Selden while giving approval to a site plan variance for another mosque in Medford.

A public hearing on the Medford mosque could take place as soon as Nov. 22, the planning board's next scheduled meeting.

M. Cecile Forte, deputy chairwoman of the planning board, said the body wanted to continue to receive input from the community on the mosque in Selden, adding that she herself had received 27 pieces of written correspondence from residents.

Forte cited the absence from Monday's meeting of board chairman Vincent Pascale, adding that he insists that the board be as thorough as possible in its deliberations and elicit as much community response as possible before voting.

"We were not sure if our chairman had sufficient input so we decided to keep it open," Forte said.

The board set Nov. 22 as the next date to consider the Selden mosque proposal.

The 400-member Islamic Association of Long Island wants to demolish the 5,600-square-foot mosque and replace it with an 8,000-square foot facility. The 29-year-old mosque is the oldest on Long Island.

Some neighborhood residents have said the larger mosque would present traffic problems in the suburban area. Mosque members have said they fear the concerns are motivated by anti-Muslim bias.

Forte said the letters she has received showed no anti-Muslim bias.

"People are concerned about their property and the impact of traffic and parking safety when people are parking on their street," Forte said. "It's not a criticism of the center itself. It's the safety of the community when the center is in operation."

Tahir Qureshi, the mosque's board chairman, said some of those traffic concerns should be alleviated with the Medford mosque proposal moving forward; some of his congregation likely would worship in Medford, he said.

"Now people will go to Medford and not Selden, and the issues surrounding Selden about the traffic by nature will be mitigated because less people will be going there," he said.

The proposal to build the 4,000-square-foot mosque in Medford needed a variance, Qureshi said. No one from the public spoke at a hearing on the variance.

With Patrick Whittle