South Hurstville residents are preparing to fight a mosque proposed for their suburb. Reclaim Australia, Stop the Mosque in Bendigo, Aussie Angels Against Sharia and other group sites have been pushing an online petition opposing the plans.
A development application submitted to Kogarah Council seeks demolition of the existing dwelling at 849 King Georges Road, on the corner of Tavistock Street, and construction of a place of public worship.
The mosque would comprise three levels of basement parking for 31 cars, and a two- to three-storey building with a traditional dome occupying the third level.
The ground floor would contain a men’s prayer area while the women’s area would be on the second floor where there would also be a kitchen and classrooms.
The 914-square-metre site is zoned R3 — medium density residential — under the Kogarah Local Environmental Plan 2012, and a place of worship is a permissible land use.
It is surrounded by a mix of low to medium density residential development and commercial land uses on King Georges Road.
The council has extended the public exhibition period of plans for the mosque following concerns raised by neighbouring residents.
They say the mosque would increase traffic problems, be visually intrusive, the operating hours would be disruptive and that a building of this kind was unsuitable for a quiet residential area.
The mosque would be open from about 3.30am to 10.30pm, depending on sunrise and sunset times, and would accommodate about 76 people at peak prayer times.
A caretaker would manage the site and gates would be locked at night.
The development application is supported by a traffic and parking assessment report which found that the on-site parking can accommodate the majority of parking demand and that there would be no unacceptable parking implications.
An acoustic report recommends noise attenuation measures to ensure the predicted noise levels would comply with the recommended noise assessment criteria.
Kogarah Council has sent out 174 public notification letters as required in accordance with the council’s policy.
The applicant’s planners say the proposed building would not result in unreasonable residential amenity impacts to the adjoining properties with regard to overshadowing and visual privacy and should be granted development consent.
Online Petition
On the online petition,Say No to 849 King Georges Road, South Hurstville Mosque, is this comment “the mosque will change our lives and our children’s lives. We worked hard to live in this area and now people want to destroy this,”
Kogarah City Council has received more than 900 submissions and spokeswoman said the number is still growing. It is not yet known how many support the mosque.
The public exhibition period for comment on the plans has been extended to the end of February, but lawyers for the applicant have already taken it to the Land and Environment Court because it was not dealt with by council within the required 40 days.
Artist’s impression of the proposed Mosque in South Hurstville
