Risebrough house, 3551 Victoria Park Ave.

*Article from www.insidetoronto.com, Mar. 2, 2012.

OMB hearing will decide whether a heritage home on Victoria Park Avenue can remain a mosque – Islamic Society of Willowdale vice president says street parking issues have been exaggerated

An Ontario Municipal Board hearing next week will decide whether a heritage home on Victoria Park Avenue can remain in use as a mosque. Scarborough Community Council refused to rezone the property last fall after city staff reported the mosque and proposed parking areas south of McNicoll Avenue would be an “overdevelopment” of 3551 Victoria Park Ave.

The Islamic Society of Willowdale bought the 19th Century farmhouse house, which has agricultural zoning, four years ago. Since then, councillors on the North York and Scarborough sides of Victoria Park have received complaints from neighbours about a lack of parking on area streets during services at the mosque. The society has proposed tearing down the home’s garage, not covered by the heritage designation, in order to create more parking.

In an interview last September, Jim Qureshi, an ISW vice president, said the mosque serves neighbourhood children and teens as a school and community centre. He said problems with street parking have been exaggerated.

Scarborough-Agincourt Councillor Mike Del Grande, however, said the difference between the city’s and the society’s positions is “not a grey area.” Del Grande encouraged any interested residents to attend the hearing, for which the board has reserved four days, starting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 6.