Imam defends plan to build mosque
Wayne residents pack zoning board meeting
By: Philip DeVencentis
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
WAYNE - A religious leader told the Zoning Board of Adjustment that a planned mosque would be like a "beautiful flower: as hundreds of people, many of them concerned neighbors, filled the municipal courtroom beyond capacity for the first public hearing on the project.
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Now officials have to find a larger venue for the next hearing, the date of which has yet to be announced.
..... Ipary House Incorporated, a local nonprofit, want to build a 53,300-square-foot Islamic community center and mosque at 225 Colfax Road. The 9.7-acre forested property is in a residential zone, and houses of worship are conditionally permitted there.
..... Meanwhile, opponents of the proposed mosque have attacked the plan. In one Facebook post, a critic write that its scale was "shocking" - "too large" and "too intense for this location."
..... Residents of the 6th Ward neighborhood are extra cautious because they were thrust into a similar position seven years ago.
..... In August 2019, an orthopedic surgeon from Franklin Lakes withdrew a zoning board application for a 27,100-square-foot table tennis training facility at the site after facing months of resistance to the plan. The doctor eventually sold the land to Ipray House.
..... Those hoping for the same outcome have a tougher threshold to meet in objecting to the proposed mosque.
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The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton in September, 2000, protects against "substantial burdens: on religious exercise and "unequal treatment" for religious assemblies.
..... Mark Semeraro, an attorney for Ipray House, said the only way to overcome such a strict threshold is for the zoning board to make a decision on a "compelling government interest" by using the "lease restrictive means" possible.
..... "Those are two big hurdles that must be met," Semeraro said on April 20. [2026] Courts have generally held that issues, such as aesthetics, traffic, the character of the community, setback ordinances and even sue restitutions, are not compelling government interest sufficient to deny or unreasonably restrict an application of this nature."
..... The hearing got off to a rocky start when officials determined that the courtroom would not fit everyone who arrived to listen to testimony on the proposed mosque.
..... Jason Hyndman, the zoning board attorney and Steven Toth, its chairman, asked those standing in the back of the room to voluntarily leave the building and to watch the meeting broadcast at hone. After 45-minutes, officials set up a projection screen in an auxiliary room to manage a lingering crowd.
..... Gazmand Aga, an imam and township resident who helped to plan the proposed mosque, was the only witness who testifier on behalf of Ipray House. Aga, the chairman of Wayne Clergy Council, an interfaith group of religious leaders, and the director of North East Islamic Community Center on Doig Road, said there would be up to five prayer session at the new mosque on weekdays. Attendance at each session would be 20 to 40 people, be estimated. the building could accommodate as many as 468 worshipers, and it is proposed to handle funerals, iftar celebrations and weddings.
..... "I believe it'll be like a beautiful flowers in this town," Aga said. "as an imam, I would be open to engage with any citizens of Wayne."