Both sides pack OMB meeting to debate controversial Muslim community project in Vaughan

Proposal first sent to city in 2013, city council to make a decision next month

Cbc.ca
March 27, 2018

A contentious proposal for an 11-hectare Muslim community development in Thornhill Woods was the focus of a jam-packed Ontario Municipal Board meeting in Vaughan Tuesday.

Fears over the incompatibility of a high-density residential development, which was to include two 17-storey apartment buildings, among a low-density suburb has drawn opposition from a neighbourhood group called the Preserve Thornhill Woods Association (PTWA).

Members of the group behind the project, the Islamic Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat of Toronto (ISIJ), came to the meeting in two school buses ready to push back, filling the council chambers to capacity, and forcing a side room to open up for another 70 or so people.

The Ontario Municipal Board pre-hearing for a proposal of a Muslim community development was packed on Tuesday. (Preserve Thornhill Woods Association)

"People are passionate about the communities they live in People want to make an informed decision," ISIJ member Sukaina Sumar-Ebrahim told CBC Toronto. "The plans are well within the legal requirements, so I'm trying to figure out what the issue is."

In 2013, the ISIJ, a group identifying themselves as mainly Shia Muslims, submitted a proposal to develop land they bought in 1994 near Bathurst Street and Rutherford Road. Currently, the group's mosque and community centre, the Jaffari Village, sits in the middle of the undeveloped land.

Petition gets over 5,000 signatures

The original application, calling for the two 17-storey apartment buildings as well as 61 townhouses, a school, commercial space, a seniors' home, parking lots and a playing field, was adjusted after the city was inundated with complaints.

In January 2014, a petition against the development had already gathered over 5,000 signatures. The opponents cited their main issues as increased traffic, parking, and the expected environmental impact on the East Don River Valley.

City staff ordered the owners to collaborate with a community working group to come up with a compromise.

A new proposal cuts the height of the buildings down to six and eight storeys with fewer townhouses. City staff recommendations say the playing field, along with a newly proposed nature trail, must allow public access. And an 11-metre naturalized buffer between the buildings and the edge of the neighbourhood has been added to the application.

Tension mounts in community

In July 2014, tension mounted in the community after anti-Muslim graffiti was spray-painted on the sidewalk and on a sign in front of the community centre. Although there was no evidence the vandalism was connected to the opponents of the proposed development, the neighbourhood around the mosque was actively fighting the project with "No high rise" signs seen on a few lawns.

City staff issued a report recommending support for the application, but council has yet to weigh in. On April 4, council will hear directly from residents, and on April 11 they will make their decision.

Even with the changes, Rom Koubi with the PTWA says he wants it stopped, and is planning a second petition.

"They have severe traffic and parking issues," he told CBC Toronto. "You can see they're already parking on their fields, and that's a normal usage of the mosque on a daily basis."

"It doesn't fit with the nature of how the neighbourhood looks,  the buildings ... the amount of people it will bring in, the density it will bring in to that particular area."