Meeting aims to clear air on Muslim school request
Those who have an interest in the effort to open a Muslim school and meeting place on Naperville's eastern periphery will have a chance to see the current configuration at an informal meeting planned for Thursday afternoon.
A revised proposal for the Irshad Learning Center, designed to address some of the county's and the neighbors' criticisms of the initial plan, will be on display at the gathering, which was called by District 5 DuPage County Board member Tony Michelassi, chairman of the county's Development Committee. The meeting will be from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in Room 3500B of the Jack T. Knuepfer Administration Building, 421 N. County Farm Road, Wheaton.
The requested conditional-use permit necessary to operate a religious institution on the site, on 75th Street northeast of its intersection with Naper Boulevard, was turned down twice by unanimous votes of the county's Zoning Board of Appeals and then recommended for County Board approval with a 5-0 vote by the Development Committee on Oct. 20.
If its request receives the county board's endorsement during its regular meeting Tuesday evening, Irshad will use the property a bit more intensively than the prior occupants of the site, who ran a preschool for 14 years that was allowed to accommodate up to 65 children. The permit request seeks clearance for a maximum of 100 users at once, who could hold activities until 10:30 p.m.
According to Naperville's 75th Street Corridor Study, completed last year, the property is identified for buffer uses between low-density residential areas and busy transportation routes.
In a Sept. 30 memo to Michelassi, Naperville attorney Scott Day alleged that the zoning panel declined to support the application because it was operating on the false assumption that the center would operate with the same activities and capacities as other Irshad centers in the metropolitan area.
"The petitioner has submitted one request, and the ZBA has entered findings based upon a completely different land use," wrote Day, who represents Irshad's five applicants, all of whom are listed on the application as directors or trustees.
Emphasizing that the religious affiliation of the applicants is of no concern to them, neighbors of the site contend that the development would infringe on their properties, spreading noise and glare well beyond 10:30 p.m. on some occasions. They also assert that the initial request for 27 parking spaces vastly underestimated the eventual needs. They have voiced concern that additional parking would require a driveway running near their backyards, because a septic field lies between their houses and the existing building on the three-acre site, slightly uphill from their properties, and precludes placing it closer to the structure.
