Why proposed Muslim Center needs so much parking

When the attorney representing the proposed Islamic Center of Western Suburbs presented a parking plan for the facility at Monday's DuPage County Zoning Board Appeals hearing, the math didn't seem to add up.

Kevin Gallaher was suggesting a 30-space parking lot despite claims that the building would house a maximum of only 20 worshippers at any of the day's five prayer services. That would leave 10 spaces perpetually unused.

"Our proposal would actually call for a 15-car lot and we'd land-bank space for 15 more, but 30 is the number the county came up with," Gallaher explained Tuesday.

Parking at religious institutions in the county is based on a four-person per car formula that also involves square footage of the worship space. The proposed center that would convert a house at 28W774 Army Trail Road near West Chicago into a prayer center for local Muslims would need 31 spaces in all by county standards, county officials said. The county contends the building could hold a maximum of 114 worshippers at once.

Neighbors in the area have already complained that driveways built at the property to accommodate increased traffic have caused their homes to flood repeatedly in the last two years. However, county stormwater officials have said the 30-space parking lot is feasible without disrupting the stormwater runoff.

But that doesn't give neighbors much consolation.

"The bottom line is that the house they want to put this center in is not the right place for this," said Ray Sitkiewicz, who lives adjacent to the property. "There's already traffic problems there now and this is coming off of a road with a 45 mph speed limit."

The DuPage County Board in recent years had been discussing placing greater restrictions on church locations and other places of assembly, but they unanimously rejected amendments to the zoning laws a little more than a year ago. The proposed parking regulations that were rejected would have required 48 spaces at this site. That increase of 17 spaces would have made it much more difficult for the center to conform to stormwater requirements, county officials said.

Currently, the county is suing the center's leaders for operating the facility without a proper permit. But that case is delayed until after the county board rules on the group's request for a permit. The zoning board of appeals is expected to make a recommendation to the county board in early September.