Angry Long Island residents are fighting for the opening of an Islamic boys’ boarding school expected to accommodate 120 teenage students – claiming it would destroy a quiet suburban neighbourhood.
A group of Bay Shore homeowners claims a proposal to set up an overnight residence is illegal under suburban Saxon Street laws, on a 13-acre waterfront property that has housed a Catholic seminary for years.
“The proposed use by the new property owner is far denser than is appropriate for a quiet residential neighborhood,” Kevin Colgan, an Islip resident and leader of the neighborhood’s anti-boarding school movement, known as “Saxon Says No,” said in a statement.
“This is about protecting the integrity of our zoning laws — not opposing any individual or organization — zoning laws exist to preserve the character, integrity and quality of life within our neighborhoods while ensuring that land uses are appropriate to their surroundings,” Colgan said.
Opponents are pressing the city of Islip’s Zoning Board of Appeals to shut down plans for the property, which was sold in June.
The United American Muslims Association, a group based in part at the Sulaymaniyah Mosque in Dix Hills, acquired the sprawling property from the Montfort Roman Catholic Missionaries for $5 million.
At Tuesday’s zoning board meeting, several board members indicated they believe the proposed housing is legal under city code. The meeting lasted more than five hours as hundreds of angry residents gathered at City Hall.
“When my family chose to buy this house 10 years ago — we relied on zoning protections when making one of the largest investments of our lives — a community of single-family homes where the zoning was intended to preserve its residential character,” said Anna Chan, who lives across the street from the proposed school.
Local residents who spoke at the meeting said they felt opening the school would harm the safety of the neighborhood, and that their residential area was no place for a school of this size.
Most of the complaints centered around their belief that a boarding school, regardless of any religious affiliation, should not be opened in a residential neighborhood because that would cause an increase in noise and create traffic congestion, as other residents had unanswered questions regarding the day care center for young children that would be opened with the proposed school.
“A boarding school has the noise that 120 teenagers can make in a recreational area – would you want that in your backyard?” asked Isla Pelkitis, who lives near the site.
School supporters, along with attorney Samuel Bifulco, who represents the United Muslim Society of America, said the proposal under city law is perfectly legal, and that strict rules imposed on students would prevent them from causing a nuisance.
He said the nonprofit’s goal is to open a school in the shuttered building to provide “comprehensive spiritual and academic training for its students,” including full-time Islam-centered education, early childhood education and community programs.