After a hearing that spanned several meeting dates, the West Windsor Zoning Board has unanimously approved a use variance for a mosque to be constructed by the Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS) on Old Trenton Road.
The vote came around 8:45 p.m. on June 16, during the fourth hearing on what has perhaps become the most controversial matter to be reviewed by the Zoning Board.
The hearing lacked the public presence and intensity that had been brought by opposing residents at prior meetings. The residents who hired attorney Anne Studholme to fight the mosque have “no longer retained her services, so there will be no presentation,” announced Zoning Board Chairman John Roeder. She had been expected to make a presentation about the reasons the board should not grant the zoning variance.
Prior to voting, Zoning Board members said they believed the mosque would serve as an “inherently beneficial use” — a point Studholme argued was not true — and that its presence would enhance the West Windsor community. Further, they said, the mosque would be a less intensive use than a health and fitness center for which they had previously granted a use variance for the site.
Zoning Board member Susan Abbey pointed out that even if the mosque did not meet the criteria for being deemed an inherently beneficial use — which she thought it had — it is still beneficial to West Windsor. “A house of worship is still a positive use of property in West Windsor,” she said, especially when you compare a mosque with a three-story building or health club that was already approved for the site.
“This is less intrusive in every single way,” Abbey added. “There will be less people going in and out.” The building also has less of a maximum impervious coverage and less of a floor-area ratio than the fitness center. “No matter how you look at it, I think this should be approved.”
Other Zoning Board members pointed out that there would be traffic impacts, but the more intense traffic would only come a few times a year on high holidays, and most of it would occur on off-peak hours. “There is a small window of time that might be somewhat difficult, but when you think about a health club that was already approved,” the conditions would have been much worse at more hours and days of the week, said board member Ed Steele. “In my opinion, we should approve this.”
Gary Guleria, another Zoning Board member, echoed the sentiment, saying the traffic would increase, “but it’s only for specific times, and we can live with it.”
Zoning Board members did suggest, however, that the IIS review its plans to include a basketball court on the site when it comes back for site plan approval before the mosque can be constructed. The plans were added to IIS’s plans for a mosque during an earlier meeting in June, and surrounding residents remained concerned that the basketball court would create excessive noise and decrease their quality of life.
IIS plans to develop 7.17 acres of currently vacant land at 2030 Old Trenton Road into a house of worship. The plans required a use variance because the property was currently located in the RO-1 zone, which permits research and office uses.
According to the plans, IIS would construct a facility that includes a house of worship, multi-purpose hall, offices, kitchen, adult social area including a kitchen and housing for its spiritual leader, and a health care facility at the site.
The use variance was approved with a list of conditions, including a cap on the maximum occupancy at any time to 483 people — a condition IIS officials presented themselves during an earlier meeting.
Responding to some residents’ comments that placing a mosque on the property takes away from the money that could have been generated in taxes if a commercial building were to be developed on the site, Steele pointed out that the board’s attorney has stated that the board cannot consider tax impacts when deciding whether to approve a use variance.
At the same time, “we have lots of property in this town that does not produce tax income,” said Steele, pointing to other houses of worship as well as Mercer County Park. “I don’t think this particular piece of property will bankrupt this town.”
