Islamic mosque, cultural centre approved for city’s southeast outskirts
A large mosque will rise on Calgary’s southeast corner, after council brushed aside planners’ worries the city shouldn’t approve projects in zones that are not even planned yet.
A major Calgary Islamic group that has outgrown its Queensland worship centre bought the 3.7-hectare site in 2007, just south of Marquis of Lorne Trail at 104th Street S.E., and several minutes’ drive from any current neighbourhoods.
It wants to build a $27.8-million community campus that starts with a mosque and community centre, but eventually would include schools, apartments and a strip mall.
The planning department urged aldermen to oppose the project because it was an “ad hoc” proposal on a vacant swath of land that is several years away from being planned, let alone readied for development.
Council members, who have long heard how difficult it is to locate a new mosque, church or temple, approved the Islamic Centre of South Calgary by a 13-1 vote.
“I can’t see why we can’t build a neighbourhood around a mosque,” Ald. Gian-Carlo Carra said, calling it an “ideal” hub for a future community.
Proponents of the new masjid — the Arabic word for mosque — said the site outside of the ring road was affordable for the community.
“In that part of the south, there’s no other centre available,” said Arshad Farooq, the president of the Islamic centre.
Forty per cent of the Muslim community lives in the south quadrants, he said. The latest Statistics Canada household survey put Calgary’s Muslim population at 56,785, making it the second-largest city religion after Christianity.
The current south Calgary mosque can handle the five regular daily prayer services but, on Fridays, the parking and space at the Queensland centre are so tight that they must rent out a McKenzie Towne community hall. They need two back-to-back services to accommodate all the worshippers, Farooq said.
The Islamic group has promised to provide the centre with its own fire protection, water and sewer systems until the city’s suburbs grow out to this location.
Ald. Gord Lowe was the lone “no” vote, concerned the city would be on the hook financially for linking the mosque with the rest of Calgary.
“We have a policy: we do not approve leapfrog development,” Lowe said.
Farooq said the site will welcome non-Muslim events and functions at the planned centre, which still needs development permits before beginning construction.
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