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Update - December 31 2007

Pace of Worship on 16th Avenue

I have had many calls and e-mails from residents in the area of 16th Avenue and Williamson. It is true that the land has been purchased for a Muslim Place of Worship, but so far there has been no application put forward to the Town. Site plans often change in time, so it is too early to say for certain that a Mosque would be built. However, it is quite likely.

When raw land is turned from farm land into a subdivision, a developer purchases the land and then submits a plan to the Town for approval and a change of Zone. The Town has set the requirement for any new development to make sure that a certain number of hectares are set aside for parks, fire stations, schools, commercial areas and places of worship. There are a host of other criteria as well, and all this is to create a well planned area with all the amenities close by. Then each of the areas are planned and marked on a map before any of the actual construction of homes begin. Once the plan is approved, then the developer sells the land to home buyers for the houses, plaza owners for the commercial areas and to religious organizations for the places of worship. The Town has no control over the denomination of the purchaser. It would be against the Charter of Rights to say that a United Church can go here, but not a Synagogue, or a Catholic Church or a Temple or a Mosque, and so on.

However, the Town des have the right to decide on the type of building. There are very strict rules about parking, traffic flow, height of the building, architecture, amount of noise etc.

When an application is submitted to the Town I will be holding informal Community Meetings so that we can make sure that all the issues are brought forward, and maybe some of them can be solved before it gets to the official planning. And as I said, site plans often change many times before anything happens.

I am watching this closely to make sure that nothing slips by and that all neighbours are informed. So far, other than the purchase of the land, it is still in the discussion stage with nothing really coming into focus. I would appreciate if you would send me any additional items of concern so that I can make sure that they are addressed. So far, the list includes:

Property Values
Parking on private streets
Traffic flow
Architecture, including the possibility of a parking structure
Building height
Noise disturbances including the pealing of bells

I look forward to the resolution of these issues before an application goes too far down the road. Your input will be very valuable.

I will keep you informed of any progress.

Update - December 31 2007

I have had several meetings with the members of the Muslim Community and they are quite willing to work with the surrounding neighbours.  So far they are still in the discussion and fundraising stage and nothing has come into focus.  At this time there is still no application.

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