By:Nick Buglione
In a quiet, closed-door meeting last Monday that was a stark contrast to the loud and contentious one held over a year ago, Muslim Society attorney Howard Avrutine presented the new blueprints to six local residents and Council of East Meadow Community Organizations (CEMCO) President Joseph Parisi.
The plans call for the demolition of the Muslim Society's house at 477 East Meadow Ave., where an approximately 2,590-square-foot house of worship, about 35 feet wide and 18 feet high, will be built. The Muslim Society's other house, at 469 East Meadow Ave., will remain untouched and will be used as an office and clergy residence.
"It's a much, much different plan," Avrutine said. "I thought the meeting was very positive, and there was a cooperative attitude."
The Long Island Muslim Society originally intended to combine both structures into a two-story mosque. Because that construction plan called for only eight on-site parking spots, instead of the 87 required by the town Building Department, local residents opposed it, citing mostly parking and traffic concerns.
Some present at the November 2002 CEMCO meeting where those plans were first revealed, however, were clearly motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment. While ethnic slurs were kept to a minimum and roundly booed by the majority in attendance, some were directed at the Muslim Society's representatives.
In the wake of that highly publicized meeting, CEMCO created a committee of local residents and worked quietly in the ensuing months with the Muslim Society to hammer out a compromise. "In the end, [the committee] thought it was a much better proposal than we started with," Parisi said. "On the whole the meeting was positive -- it was a very good discourse."
The new proposal still requires a town parking variance for five spots, far below the original 87 needed, before construction can move forward, Avrutine said. He is in the process of filing the variance application with the Board of Zoning Appeals, and a hearing date should be set soon.
If the board approves the variance, Avrutine hopes construction can begin in the summer or fall.
"This is something that has been asked for in other communities throughout the Town of Hempstead and has been approved on many different levels," said CEMCO Vice President Richard Bivone. "From a Board of Zoning Appeals standpoint, this is not an unreasonable request."
Bivone, whose RMB Drafting Services helps clients obtain variances, expects the Muslim Society's request to be approved.
Once open, the building will serve as a place for gatherings, prayer services, seminars and other Long Island Muslim Society functions, said Muslim Society President Mohammed Saleh, who was not at last Monday's meeting.
The society, which moved into East Meadow in 1993, comprises about 40 families primarily from the East Meadow, Merrick, Bellmore and Levittown areas. It schedules three or four large events a year, but those will not be held at the East Meadow site, Saleh said. "We have been in dialogue with the community," he said. "It's been very positive. So far, it looks very good. We're trying to have a good understanding."
He went on to say that aside from the November 2002 meeting, the Muslim Society has felt welcomed in East Meadow and that the community has been cooperative. "They're accommodating us, and we're trying to comply with their requests," Saleh said.
CEMCO does not plan to hold a public meeting on the revised proposal, Parisi said.
