A few dozen mosque-goers spoke at the public hearing, including a few in opposition to the project. One individual said the project shouldn’t go forward because the community wasn’t consulted properly. The city received some complaints before the hearing as well, with most saying only the mosque should be built on the site. Overwhelmingly, however, most people seemed to support the plan. A total of 2,101 signatures were gathered on a petition in favour of the project, while 248 signatures were collected across two petitions
opposed to the project. Places of worship have increasingly been tied to housing developments in recent years in Metro Vancouver. Typically, these projects have involved churches, said Charlotte Au, the director of real estate development at Wayfinder Developments, which has been involved in some of the projects. “Church properties are coming to a point where they’re facing an aging building that is in need of more expensive capital repairs, and usually a shrinking congregation, so less donor-based to basically fund these repairs,” Au said. “Typically,
the highest and best use for land includes some sort of residential use, and so that’s why churches are looking to combine residential uses with their church, so that they could try and hopefully get more value out of their land.”
Surrey, 38-storey residential tower, mosque, public hearing, petition signatures, Metro Vancouver, Wayfinder Developments, Charlotte Au
38 stories and a mosque… wild.
So they’re building housing but saying it’s “for the congregation”? Sounds like it’s really about maximizing land value, not community. Also why weren’t people consulted more if they gathered all those signatures?
I heard “only the mosque should be built” which honestly feels like common sense. Like if you put a 38-storey tower next to it, what’s the point? And 248 signatures opposed sounds like nothing compared to 2,101 so they’ll do what they want anyway.
This is like the same thing as those church conversions in the US where they say it’s about repairs but it turns into luxury apartments. I don’t even get the petition numbers though—2,101 “in favor” and 248 “against” but half the neighborhood will still complain after it’s approved. Also “Metro Vancouver” isn’t even Surrey, right? Either way hope the mosque community gets what they’re expecting.