Narre Warren North mosque: Rejection of plan not based on religion, Melbourne council says
Updated
The rejection of an application to build a mosque in Melbourne's south-east is about planning, not religion, says the local Mayor.
Key points:
- Proposal unanimously rejected by council
- Mosque would have been 16 metres high, with a 25-metre minaret and 150 car parking spots
- Application does not stack up on planning grounds, Mayor says
However, Councillor Rosalie Crestani indicated she would likely always oppose the mosque, regardless of any changes made to its design, due to terrorism fears.
The City of Casey Councillors voted unanimously to reject the plan for the building on the nine-hectare, semi-rural site on Belgrave-Hallam Rd.
The proposal was for a mosque that was 16 metres high, with a 25-metre minaret, with a footprint of 1,177 square metres and 150 car parking spots.
There was some anger from those gathered outside the council meeting when only about 80 of the 200 people there were allowed into the council meeting.
In a report on the issue, council planning staff advised councillors to reject the proposal due to concerns about the building's height, bulk and prominence and because it will not be sympathetic to the landscape of the area.
However, the council report said concerns about the social impact of the mosque were unfounded.
Mayor Sam Aziz said the application did not meet the requirements of the planning scheme.
"Accordingly council has declined it on that basis," he said.
"Unfortunately the debate has been hijacked by both the lunatic left and also the wacky right.
"They're both claiming that they had an influence on the decision.
"Nothing can be further from the truth."
VicRoads has also objected to the proposal, saying it is premature and lacks sufficient orderly planning.
The council report advised councillors must refuse a planning application if VicRoads objects.
Public campaigns on social media to stop mosque
More than 1,000 people wrote to council opposing the mosque, while an anti-mosque Facebook campaign received more than 10,000 likes.
Councillor Aziz defended the decision regardless of the "circus" put on by what he called "imported professional protesters".
"It is a lawful decision made on planning considerations and we intend to defend it should it be challenged," he said.
Councillor Crestani, who is also deputy leader of the right-wing Rise Up Australia party, said she had been inundated with calls from community members who opposed the idea.
"I'm concerned about what the community's concerned about, and that is the social and cultural impacts of what a mosque will do to this area, as well as the risk of radicalisation and terrorism threats that could also occur," she said.
"[Locals] don't want the whole demographic changing about the interaction between a mosque and a quiet community."
She said it was possible radicalisation could occur at the mosque, pointing to Monday's arrest of a 16-year-old in Sydney who was allegedly planning an attack on Anzac Day.
"If that sort if thing is potential, then I think we should allow that to come into our decision making," she said.
Cr Crestani said about 100 people had contacted her directly concerned about the mosque, many of them on social grounds.
Developer 'shocked' by mosque rejection
The developer of the mosque said they were surprised by the council's recommendation to reject the proposal.
"We got a really big shock the day we found out they rejected our application," Zain Shaah, president of the Saarban Islamic Trust, said.
"There were only three issues we've been discussing for the last few months; there was the traffic issue, the height of the building and the minaret of the mosque and we were ready to address all those issues.
"I'm surprised all those things which came up haven't been raised beforehand."
He said stopping the mosque being built would prevent people praying.
"In that area we have more than 15,000 Muslims and we have only one mosque and one mosque cannot cater to all those Muslims," he said.
Topics: urban-development-and-planning, community-and-society, religion-and-beliefs, islam, narre-warren-north-3804
First posted
