Proposal for Riverhead mosque aired at planning board hearing

A proposal for a mosque on Harrison Avenue in Riverhead drew about 50 supporters to town hall for a planning board hearing last night.

The Riverhead Islamic Center at 751 Harrison Avenue will consist of worship space on the first floor, a classroom for Sunday school, a kitchenette and restrooms on the second floor, according to plans filed with the town.

The mosque will be a 6,500-square-foot masonry-type building, Riverhead attorney Charles Cuddy told the planning board. The existing house, currently vacant and boarded-up, will be relocated on the 1.3-acre site and renovated for use as a residence, he said. The site plan provides for 65 parking spaces, which is more than is required by code, he said. He noted that the entrance driveway will be on the north side of the site, to reduce the potential for traffic congestion that might interfere with the flow of traffic from the nearby school. But, he added, traffic should not be a problem in any case. The peak attendance at any service is expected to be about 50 people. The Friday evening service draws the most worshippers, he said.

The plan “meets all site plan requirements,” Cuddy said. “This is an appropriate site for this particular use.”

Cuddy presented the board with a stack of “letters from various community members in support of the proposal.”

Harrison Avenue resident Manana Sweat spoke in opposition to the plan, arguing that there is already “too much commercialism” on the street, where many homes are in disrepair and property values have suffered. A lot of the houses there are not owner-occupied, Sweat said, questioning whether they are in compliance with town code.

“I am not against any religions,” she said. “I came here United States, too,” she said in thickly accented English. She said she had spoken to her neighbors and “everybody agrees too much commercial building there. All my neighbors, they was scared. I’m not scared to say the truth,” she said.

Planning board member Ed Densieski explained that a place of worship is not considered a commercial use. “It’s a church,” he said. “Churches are allowed in any zoning.”

The Riverhead zoning code allows places of worship as permitted uses in all zoning use districts. Cuddy said most churches in the town are in fact in residential neighborhoods.

Several men took the podium to speak out in favor of the proposal, stressing that the area currently has no mosque.

“I take my kids all the way to the mosque in Selden because there is nothing close for Sunday school, to teach them the language and religion,” said Ishtar Mohammed, a 20-year resident of Flanders. “This would be good. We need it.”

Ali Hanushi said he understands the neighbor’s issues. “I want her to feel that it’s going to be a house of God, for worship. I think it’s going to be good for her to have some peace and safety.”

Malik Ahmed, owner of iFix Screens in Riverhead. “I used to live in Riverhead but we have no mosque here. So I had to move to Selden so we can attend prayers and religious education. We would love to have a mosque right here.” He said there are many, many Muslims living in the area. “Every 7-Eleven, every gas station, grocery store, they are all Muslim people,” Ahmed said.

He said the mosque will improve the neighborhood on Harrison Avenue. “Once we move into the neighborhood you will see a very big difference,” Ahmed predicted.

“We will address the lady’s concerns,” said Riverhead Islamic Center president Dr. Mohammad Ibqal of Dix Hills, a dentist. “We will improve the area.”

Riverhead Islamic Center initially filed its site plan application in 2016. They met with the planning board that June, but did not proceed with the original application, which called for renovating the existing house and no new construction. The organization revamped its plan for the site, which was the subject of last night’s public hearing.

Currently the local Muslim community has only a small storefront on Railroad Avenue where it meets to gather for prayers. The Islamic Association of Long Island owns the mosque in Selden, the oldest and largest mosque in Suffolk County. It typically draws 500 or more people to its pair of Friday evening services each week, its director Amin Ur Rahman, told RiverheadLOCAL in a 2016 interview.

According to a 2014 study by Pew Research Center, 2 percent of adults in New York identify as Muslim. Twelve percent of New Yorkers surveyed by Pew researchers identified as members of non-Christian religions, including Jewish (7 percent), Buddhist (1 percent and Hindu (1 percent). Another 2 percent identify as “other,” including Unitarians and “new age” faiths. Twenty-seven percent of New Yorkers reported being unaffiliated, with 10 percent of those identifying as atheist or agnostic. Sixty percent of those surveyed identified themselves as Christian, with Catholics at 31 percent making up the largest segment, followed by Protestants at 27 percent. Mormons make up less than 1 percent of adult New Yorkers, according to the study and Jehovah’s Witnesses and Orthodox Christians 1 percent each.

Just about every religious denomination is represented in the Riverhead community. There are numerous Catholic and Protestant churches throughout the town, as well as Mormon and Jehovah’s Witnesses places of worship. A Buddhist center opened on Sound Avenue a few years ago. Hindus have long worshipped together in Riverhead medical office.