Construction has resumed on the site of the new Hillside Islamic Center on Hillside Avenue in North New Hyde Park after the Town of North Hempstead Building Department gave a green light on July 28 to let work on the $1.4 million project proceed.
“Everything is in progress, slowly but surely,” said Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan, president of the Hillside Islamic Center.
Bhuiyan said questions raised by the town Building Department about anchor bolts on the site and other issues about the steel work have been resolved. He said Mineola-based Future Tech Consultants, Inc., retained to inspect the corrective work, had conducted regular inspections while the work was being done.
Town of North Hempstead spokesman Ryan Mulholland confirmed that the Islamic Center had recently received the approvals needed from the town Building Department to move forward with all construction.
Construction was halted on the project on Oct. 24 last year after inspectors for the town Building Department discovered deficiencies in the steel work on the site by Elmhurst-based Strong Metal. Bhuiyan said the engineer on the project, CNA Corp. of Manhasset, also had concerns about the steel.
Now that those issues have been resolved, Bhuiyan said, a new general contractor hired for the project, Long Island City-based United Restorations, is finishing work on the steel structure of what will be a two- story building at 300 Hilllside Ave. Bhuiyan said it has taken time for the new contractor to get crews together to work on the project.
“They’re working slowly,” Bhuiyan said.
He said the contractor will be working on the foundation of the building in the next phase of the project.
Construction of the 9,100-square foot structure began in September 2013 after the Islamic Center acquired four adjacent houses adjacent to the property. One of those houses was demolished to enable expansion of the Islamic Center parking lot.
Expansion of the Hillside Islamic Center from a one-story structure to a two-story structure that will feature four 40-foot decorative minarets has been a source of controversy among residents in the residential neighborhood the center abuts and civic association leaders in the community.
Plans for a proposed expansion of the Islamic center were rejected by the Town of North Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals two years ago after New Hyde Park residents expressed sharp opposition at a public hearing to the center’s plans to purchase adjacent residential properties to expand the center’s parking lot.
The project later moved ahead under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which was enacted in 2000 and relaxed zoning restrictions on religious institutions located in residential neighborhoods. The law allowed Hillside Islamic Center, which now owns the properties adjacent to it, to move head with the project with approval only from the town building department
Bhuyian has said the center needs to expand because its congregation is growing. Center plans also call for children’s religious classes and adult language classes at the center.
