By:Cindy J. Roth
A Muslim congregation from Bellmore, Merrick, East Meadow and Levittown recently bought the old Friendly's restaurant on Newbridge Road in North Bellmore and are converting it into a mosque, said Mozaffar Partowmah, a congregant.
The group purchased the building on Aug. 31 for about $400,000 from M & O Assets Inc., which bought it from Friendly's in June of 2000. Partowmah said the mosque now has a congregation of about 30 members, who pray at the property five times a day.
"There is not a very big [Muslim community in the area], but enough to sustain a mosque," said Partowmah, of East Meadow.
Interior construction to the building is minimal since Muslims pray on marked rows of carpet. The mosque has no name yet. Partowmah said that right now the congregation is concentrating on refurbishing the inside of the building. Exterior construction, possibly a couple of years away, is to come later.
County Legis. Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) said the building is now being used without a revised permit. The only permit on record with the Town of Hempstead is for use as a restaurant. The property owners must request a change in permit for use as a house of worship, she said.
Partowmah said the group is working on obtaining necessary permits, but no formal request to the Town of Hempstead has been made.
A stop-work-immediately order was posted Sept. 13 on the door to the mosque. The order cited violations of three town codes: construction without a permit; plumbing work without a plumbing permit, and change of public-assembly use.
Bill Christensen, president of the North Bellmore Civic Association, said several members of his group are concerned about the new addition to the neighborhood. Many wonder about construction plans for the mosque, specifically future exterior repairs.
Christensen said he has only received one negative comment about the mosque in an anonymous letter. The letter asked the association to look into whether the building had permits and questioned whether the mosque would fit in well with the neighborhood. Gonsalves also said she has received little negative feedback about the mosque. Instead, people are concerned about the legalities of the mosque, including the loss of taxes from the property once it gains the permits to become a house of worship and whether a mosque can exist in a business district. The answer: It can.
The building now pays $8,536.85 in general taxes and $13,407.79 in school taxes, according to the Nassau County Assessment Office. Howard Pollitt, North Bellmore School District assistant superintendent of business, said the effects of removing the Friendly's building from the school district's tax role would be minor.
The impact will probably equate to less than [an additional]10 cents a house,Pollitt said.
People on streets surrounding the mosque hold varying opinions about their new neighbor. Several said they had no problem with the house of worship, saying they will be unaffected by it. Others interviewed on Haft Avenue and Denton and Waring streets said they were unaware of the building's new designation, and although they were not against the mosque, they were not enthusiastic about it either. Several residents said they did not think it is a good idea for the mosque to open, citing the recent terrorist attacks as reasons why.
Partowmah said the group looks forward to becoming part of the community, and they plan on inviting neighbors to make a formal opening when the renovations are complete.
