By Allison Musante, Staff Writer
WEST WINDSOR — The Cranbury-based Institute of Islamic Studies is seeking a variance to build a mosque and community center on Old Trenton Road.
The plans for the two-story structure require a variance from the zoning board because the site is on a 7.17-acre lot at 2030 Old Trenton Road, between the intersections of Windsor Center Drive and Dorchester Drive, that is zoned for research and office use. The application is set to go before the board on April 7.
If the variance is approved, the applicant will move forward for site plan review with a hearing scheduled in July or August, according to township land use manager Samuel Surtees. The institute would then go to the zoning board again for site plan approval, likely during September or October.
”I’d say by the time they get everything engineered out and they get all their permits, the earliest they’d break ground would be this time next year,” he said.
According to application documents submitted by attorney Jonathan M. Heilbrunn, the institute wishes to build the center because its membership is outgrowing its current location at 379 Princeton-Hightstown Road in East Windsor.
The application states that 400 Muslim families live in West Windsor, 130 of which are active members of the institute. It projects membership growth of 3 to 5 percent every year, seeing at least 250 more families in the next 10 years.
”The public interest at stake is freedom of religion, a fundamental constitutional right,” the application states. “It will serve a local population and be central to the population it serves.”
The first floor of the proposed building includes a 3,500-square-foot prayer hall, a multi-purpose room with seating for 170 people, an office, conference room, and food preparation room. The second floor includes housing for the imam, two guest rooms, an office, storage room, food handling room, and a 5,000-square-foot schoolroom, featuring eight classrooms with seating for 128 students total. Other on-site amenities include an Islamic library, a free medical clinic, an indoor gym and a senior citizen activity center — all of which are open to the public.
The design includes one 55-foot minaret, but Mr. Surtees said it would not have any speakers or bells or interior stairs. “It’s basically ornamental,” he said.
The mosque would hold five daily prayer services and special services for observance of Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr. It would also house religious education classes for about 125 children, ages 7 to 18, on Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The institute plans to host free public lectures and workshops, hold fund-raising and volunteer activities, offer classes in computer skills, SAT preparation, math and science tutoring, and be a venue for youth meetings.
Mayor Shing Fu-Hsueh said the township welcomes the mosque into the community.
”As long as it complies with all the township requirements, I think it’s a very good thing,” he said. “This is a community of diversity and it’s their constitutional right.”
The application states the center would be accessible by a driveway on Old Trenton Road and would include 218 parking spaces. Of the total lot, about 89,000 square feet will be paved space.
Shafique Ahmed of West Windsor, Qaiser H. Usmani and Ziaur Rehman, both of Cranbury, are listed as the representatives of the institute and sit on its board of trustees.
Ali Qureshi Architect LLC of North Caldwell is the listed project architect. AWZ Engineering Inc. of Montville is the project engineering firm and John McDonough of Morris Plains is listed as the consulting planner.
