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Darul Uloom Maryland - Update 1
Last week I commented on the hysterical overreaction here in Gwynn Oak (Woodlawn), Maryland to a proposal to build a dormitory for 20 male Muslim students on the grounds of a historic property in the neighborhood.
Since then I have heard a few rumors floating around, but no new information has been published, and as far as I can tell, the zoning variance process for the school is on permanent "hold." However, I did stumble across an article I had missed in The Community Times.
As I digested this article, I became increasingly convinced that the objections posed by the so-called concerned neighbors are terribly thin, and that the only fathomable reason for all the fuss is an irrational fear of all things Muslim.
Read a few quotes from the article, along with my observations:
Thomas H. Bostwick, the deputy zoning commissioner, found Sept. 27 that even though the school property in the 6300 block of Dogwood Road had been duly posted, the surrounding community was not informed "in a timely manner."
This is a genuinely weird assertion, for which the newspaper article offered no support. I learned of the matter through a legal notice in The Jeffersonian, the county paper in which all zoning matters are announced. The scheduling for the hearing did not appear to provide any less time than the others posted alongside it. Aside from posting the property and placing a legal notice in the paper, neither the county nor the property owner has any obligation to "inform the surrounding community." If you are concerned about this kind of stuff, you get a subscription to the paper and read the notices regularly. If you don't then you have no right to complain about something you missed.
The zoning hearing had been set for Oct. 1 on a request to grant a special exception and variance for a dormitory for students attending the Darul Uloom school.
The commissioner received several letters of concern from neighbors and decided to allow more time before proceeding.
As of this writing, the case has not reappeared on the zoning commission's schedule. One might ask how much time Mr. Bostwick plans to allow.
In addition to the special exception, Kabiruddin also sought a zoning variance for a slimmer side-yard setback and for a narrower driveway.The next-door property has been operated as a storage yard for heavy equipment for at least a decade, and continues to be zoned for commercial use. Its driveway is scarcely larger than that of the Darul Uloom property.
The school, ... is intended to offer religious education for students in grades six through high school, according to Kabiruddin. The school Web site says Darul Uloom will also offer secular home schooling for students using the Calvert curriculum and Keyton program.
This sounds as though it would be a welcome addition to the neighborhood, especially since the local high school ranks dead last in the county, and the middle school serving the area is near the bottom of the heap.
Kabiruddin said he finalized the purchase of the dormitory property in February.
It would be correct to say that Kabiruddin finalized the purchase of the entire property in February. The dormitory is proposed for the site of a large carriage house on that property.
The property is in the district of state Delegate Emmett C. Burns (D-10th), who attended a Sept. 27 community meeting where some neighbors of the property voiced concern that the dorm could generate too much traffic or even become a group home for troubled youths.
"People are not concerned that it's an Islamic school but they're concerned about traffic patterns and group homes and they don't know much about the intention," Burns said in a telephone interview after the community meeting. "The overwhelming concern is that there's too much congestion. A pub is across the street and just down the street is Woodlawn High School."That particular high school built a football "stadium" several years ago, and most of the traffic congestion in the area stems from illegal parking of cars and buses during games. But the football field--which has a much greater impact on the neighborhood--was built without public discussion, and ballyhooed as a grand addition to the area.
Kerri Lastner, who lives a block from the property, said that speculation is flying because neighbors weren't sufficiently informed about the project.
"You wonder what kind of families these kids are coming from, what kind of background they are coming from," she said. "We haven't been given any information."
In a telephone interview, Kabiruddin sought to correct the group home misconception.
"This is a religious school. We only take students that are the opposite background of that. . These are not disturbed kids," Kabiruddin said. He added that the students would be models and be an asset to the community.
***
Neighbors of the school wrote Bostwick contending that neighborhood calm is threatened by non-residential development.The closest non-residential uses added recently include two auto repair shops, both of which maintain junkyard conditions on their properties; two Pentecostal-flavored churches, at least one of which creates a traffic jam whenever it holds an event; the football field; and several home-based day care centers.
Where were the concerned citizens when this stuff arrived?
(Three blocks away, the local volunteer fire department built a new station, and a hundred yards north of that, the old station was purchased and converted into an automobile repair shop. Compared to the other two shops, that place is a model of responsible ownership. Yet the owner of the place was put through an expensive ordeal by one of the same busybodies who appear to be behind the objection to Darul Uloom.)
One neighbor used the example of rowdies who spilled from the nearby tavern one night, leaving a trail of broken glass to be swept up.
The tavern in question has been a neighborhood trouble spot since I moved nearby in 1975. To draw a connection between that joint and any other neighborhood activity requires a huge leap of logic.
If you go back to my original blog entry on this subject, you will find a somewhat different set of citizen concerns being voiced. There's the so-called "group home" objection. This has been the pet arguing point of a handful of neighborhood busybodies for as long as I can remember. They have yet to provide any concrete evidence of the problem that they claim exists.
More to come...