City Wants Mosque to Blend, Says an Adviser : Granada Hills: The idea for a Spanish style for the structure was supported in meetings of a committee appointed by Councilman Bernson.

The idea that a proposed Granada Hills mosque should be built in a Spanish architectural style jelled in meetings of a citizens panel appointed by Councilman Hal Bernson to screen and review proposed land-use projects in his district.

A member of the Granada Hills Planning and Environment Citizens Advisory Committee said Friday that members of the Muslim group which wanted to build the mosque and their lobbyist were told that Granada Hills community leaders were trying to have all new, non-residential structures take on a Spanish style so the area could re-create the architectural forms of its namesake, Granada, Spain.

The Muslims agreed to that plan, Gilbert Benjamin, president of the Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce, said. “I’m sure if it had been offensive to them, they would have objected. Maybe they were happy to have found a community that would accept them with open arms.”

Last Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley accused the Los Angeles City Council of religious intolerance after it voted, in the mayor’s words, “to impose conditions . . . that included an outrageous requirement that the mosque resemble a ‘Spanish-style’ building with stucco walls and a red tile roof.”

Bradley’s remarks came after the head of the Muslim congregation, Mohammed Mohuiddin, expressed disappointment the day of the vote that the mosque would not look like a traditional mosque, with a dome or minaret. Mohuiddin said the congregation was advised by its lobbyist that the mosque should be built to “blend in with the community.”

A city zoning official said Friday there never has been--nor is there now--an explicit requirement that the mosque have a Spanish style. Rather, the Muslims “made an implicit promise to build it like that . . .because they felt they had to have a design acceptable to the council and the neighborhood,” John Perica, associate zoning administrator, said.

Perica said he expected the Muslims to keep their promise. “Obviously, the Muslims wouldn’t have stepped forward with this on their own--they would’ve wanted another style,” he said. The result was a “trade-off” for them, he said.

The conditional use permit granted by the council to allow the mosque to be built contained a record number of 44 limitations, Perica said. The permit was sought by the Islamic Center of Northridge, a growing congregation of Muslims that has been worshiping in a converted three-bedroom house in Northridge and a Knights of Columbus hall in Canoga Park.

Attorney John Weitkamp, chairman of the 15-member Granada Hills citizens advisory panel, said his group recommended to Bernson that the mosque be built in the Spanish style because some project applicants in the past have reneged on their plans.

Perica said the Spanish style was depicted in a drawing shown at city meetings, including the Sept. 11 council meeting, and was attached to official city planning files. At the council meeting, a large copy of the rendering was displayed on an easel.

“My guess is that the neighbors, the council and others seeing that nicely colored rendering at meetings assumed that was what was going to be built,” Perica said by way of explaining the confusion. “Maybe I should have said that, ‘Hey, I’ve imposed a lot of conditions on the mosque, but one of them was not that that it have a Spanish style.’ ” Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani said Friday it was immaterial to the mayor’s criticism whether the Spanish style was an officially imposed condition or whether it was imposed more subtly. “The fundamental fact is that this religious group felt pressure to design its building in a way that they never would have done on their own,” Fabiani said.

Such pressure is a restriction on freedom of religious expression and should not be allowed, Fabiani said.

Robert Wilkinson, a former city councilman who is lobbyist for the Islamic center, said he too assumed the conditions imposed on his clients included a Spanish style. He said that regardless of whether the style was legally binding or not, his clients would abide by it.

Wilkinson said he had advised his clients to accept the Spanish style. “And they agreed to it,” he said. Why did he so advise them? “They had had this bad experience at White Oak and Plummer before,” Wilkinson said. The group had proposed a more traditional mosque style structure there, and the community had “100% objected,” he said.

Mohuiddin, the congregation’s leader, said Thursday that the flap over the mosque was becoming a headache. “The best thing to do with this controversy is to put it to bed,” the Pakistani native said. “It’s been blown out of proportion. Islam is not just minarets and domes.”