Excerpt:
A proposed and widely contested 28-acre residential development around a Thornhill Woods mosque will be the subject of an Ontario Municipal Board hearing next week, over four years after it was initially proposed to the community.
The Islamic Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat (ISIJ) wants permission to rezone and develop the property around the Jaffari Community Centre mosque at 9000 Bathurst St.—land they have owned for 20 years.
Dubbed the “Jaffari Village,” the initial 2014 plan proposed two 17-storey residential towers, a retail space and 61 townhouses in the low-density neighbourhood. Then, both religious tensions and concerns about density surfaced in community discussions, with more than 3,250 people signing a petition against it at the time.