Religion Not the Issue

I strongly object, as many of my neighbors do, to the quote in the Los Angeles Times on May 16 by associate zoning administrator Jon Perica that implied that the opposition to construction of a mosque was racially motivated. The six speakers for the opposition at the May 15 hearing never mentioned race or religion. They were opposed to this 15,900-square-foot facility for the following reasons:

The site is inappropriate. The only outlet exits to a 36-foot-wide street with no sidewalks and minimum lighting.

The Municipal Code requires 404 parking stalls for a facility of this size. The associate zoning administrator reduced that to 208 in the conditional use permit. The proposed plot plan for the facility shows only 168 parking stalls.

The traffic study indicated maximum traffic on Encino Avenue of 390 vehicles an hour with a street capacity of 400. However, the study erroneously considered Encino Avenue as having four lanes, where in fact it has only two.

One of the board members stated that a church should serve the immediate community. Only 4% of the members who will use this facility live in Granada Hills.

Proponents of the proposed facility, on the other hand, spoke almost exclusively on religion. They did not deal with the traffic or parking issues.

The Times indicated that the 60 conditions for this site is a new record for the city. That statement alone tells us that the approval was a mistake.

DON PARDI

Granada Hills