Hamtramck is a popular place for mosques -- too popular, some residents feel.
Charles Sercombe reports in the Hamtramck Review on proposals for two new worship sites:
Investors who bought a building on St. Aubin and Faber want to create an Islamic center there if planning commissioners change industrial zoning on part of the site, where an American Axle had been.
Commissioners also are considering proposed facade design for a new mosque at the northwest corner of Jos. Campau and Caniff in a two-story building already rezoned from a commercial/residential designation.
"Mosques seem to the fastest growing development in the city," Sercombe writes in the local paper.
He quotes a concerned resident who spoke a recent Planning Commission meeting:
Susan Dunn she was concerned about increased traffic from the mosque, as well as eliminating a building for further potential industrial use.
She also questioned the need for so many mosques in the area – now numbering about a dozen. She said the Muslim community should concentrate the mosques to one or two large ones instead of creating a number of “smaller ones.”
The spread of tax-exempt institutions also poses a financial issue, Sercombe notes.
The proliferation of religious centers and subsequent loss of property taxes in the city’s business district has been a growing concern among some city officials.
Hamtramck Review coverage also features comments by mosque proponents.
