Construction work at the new $1.4 million Hillside Islamic Center in New Hyde Park to correct defects on steel work was recently suspended pending approval of a revised site plan submitted by the center this week.
“We’re making some changes on the plan,” Hillside Islamic Center President Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan said. “It’s an architectural design that we decided to make. We just want to make sure that we do it right.”
Bhuiyan said the center decided to suspend steel work required by the Town of North Hempstead Building Department while it prepared revisions to its plan for the interior of the two-story building.
“We wanted to get the plan with the amendments changed. The building department suggested since we’re making that change, to submit them and then they would inspect the work,” Bhuiyan said.
Bhuiyan said the primary change to be submitted in the revised site plan is the removal of a column in the middle of the center’s main first floor hall.
He said the center would submit the revised plans to the town Building Department for approval early this week.
The building department halted construction on the site last October over concerns over the steel work on the site.
Bhuiyan said the remaining steel work will resume after the revised site plan is approved. The work includes replacement of deficient anchor bolts on steel support beams.
The town building department and the engineer on the project, CNA Corp. of Manhasset, both had concerns about the installation of the steel on the site by Elmhurst-based Strong Metal when the building department issued a cease and desist order on Oct. 24, Bhuiyan said.
He said the interruption of work on the site will not seriously affect the timetable for the project, which Bhuiyan has said will take at least a year to complete.
“It’s been delayed already. It’ll probably add a month or so, but not much,” he said.
Expansion of the Hillside Islamic Center from a one-story structure to a two-story structure featuring 40-foot decorative minarets has been a source of controversy among residents in the residential neighborhood the center abuts and civic association leaders.
The Town of North Hempstead Board of Zoning Appeals rejected the proposed expansion of the Islamic center after New Hyde Park residents expressed sharp opposition at a public hearing on 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 the Hillside Islamic Center to move head with the project with approval only from the town building department. The center subsequently purchased properties adjacent to the center.
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.
The center responded to calls for a buffer zone between the Islamic Center and the neighboring houses by agreeing to plant trees in addition to erecting a fence on the property.
The center is still raising money among its members to complete the project.
Bhuiyan said the halt in construction has “stalled” that effort.
“We not getting any funding since people don’t see any work being done,” Bhuiyan said.
