By James DeWeese
The current legislation sets parking requirements based on fixed or permanent seating and not on actual capacity. Supporters of changing the law said community facilities could exploit the loophole by using folding chairs.
The plan, which the City Planning Commission referred to local community boards for comment, was approved 22-14 with two abstentions after some questioned other changes including reducing the required distance between adult entertainment spots and religious institutions. Others worried that new restrictions on such facilities in residential areas would drive them to locate in neighborhoods zoned for heavier development such as Woodside.
Earlier, CB 8 members voted the plan down, calling it too restrictive. The Queens Civic Congress rejected the plan because it was considered to not be stringent enough.
In other news, CB 2, which covers Woodside, Sunnyside and Long Island City, voted almost unanimously to approve a land-use variance for the construction of a mosque at 57-14 37th Ave., which is zoned for industrial uses only.
The mosque, which is to be built on a lot directly adjacent to a residential zone where religious facilities are normally permitted, will provide a place to worship for up to 250 area Muslims who for more than 15 years have gathered in a decrepit one-family home, said Don Weston, an engineer representing the Islamic Center of Queens.
Several members of the congregation, which also held meetings in a basement adjacent to the one-family home, came to the meeting, asking for the community's support.
The one dissenting vote came from CB 2 member Aida Bartolome, who said she lived two blocks from the site and was concerned about traffic and noise from the religious center.
Weston said that according to his analysis, only 2 percent of congregants use private cars to attend religious services. Fully 94 percent walk to attend the services, which are offered five times a day.
