The township planning commission is to consider a special land use request today to convert a ranch house at 46510 Ford Road into the Islamic Center. The center would be about 5 miles from the Canton Mosque on Palmer Road.
Zaki Haider, of the center's board of directors, said the proposed center points to the growth of the Muslim population in Canton, which has about 90,000 residents. Although the U.S. Census Bureau does not track religious affiliation, anecdotal accounts back up Haider's contention.
Muzammil Ahmed, a member of the Canton Mosque's outreach committee, said the best gauge of that growth is the increase in students from 350 last year to 430 this year at the mosque-affiliated Crescent Academy, which serves children 18 months old to eighth grade.
The Canton Mosque added a second Friday service about five years ago. At the time, the weekly service accommodated about 800 worshipers. Now, each service attracts 600-700 worshipers, Ahmed said.
Ahmed credited the township's reputation as a welcoming community for attracting Muslims and other groups, and he predicted the new center would be approved.
"I'm sure they're going to be receptive to another Islamic center being built," he said.
The Islamic Center would provide Muslims in the northwest portion of the township with a place to worship closer to their homes, said Haider, 52, an engineer who has lived in Canton for about 13 years.
He said the center would not offer a call to prayer, in part, because of its location. The area is zoned residential, but the center would sit between an auto repair shop and a power equipment business.
Today's hearing is only one step in the process of opening the center, according to Jeff Goulet, Canton community planner.
If the commission recommends approval of the special land use, City Council would have to OK it. The matter would then return to the commission for approval of the site plan. If that is accepted, it would also require final approval by City Council.
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