Mosque Plans Get Cold Shoulder In Chino Neighborhood

CHINO (CBSLA.com) — Some neighbors are upset over a proposal to build a mosque at Phillips Boulevard and Yorba Avenue in Chino has upset neighbors, although the man behind the plan says they have no reason to worry.

Worshippers have been approved to use the small house on the property to pray in, but, according to Imam Mahmoud Harmoush, it'll eventually be torn down in hopes of building a 7,000- square-foot mosque. It would be called the Al Nur Islamic Center.

"I told the man this morning, I said, 'You'd be a welcome neighbor if you build a house there,' " Howard A. Forschler told KCAL9's Crystal Cruz on Wednesday. " 'You build that mosque, and you'll have hostile neighbors.' "

Harmoush said residents should not fear the plan.

"This is a house of God, and shouldn't really be any hostility," he said.

Neighbors say they're not anti-Muslim, instead they fear the traffic, trash and noise a large mosque could potentially bring to their rural, residential neighborhood.

The imam says right now he doesn't even have enough worshippers to fill a mosque of the proposed size, and it could be years before any mosque is ever built.

"We are not anticipating any problems, rather we would like to be good neighbors, and I extended the invitation to all of our neighbors to come and visit, and see our activity, which is just worshipping, socializing and maybe helping the little children, and that's all," Harmoush said.

Neighbors are not swayed.

"This isn't the place for it," neighbor Diane Schumann said. "This is open, very rural and very country, we have children that want to walk on the roads. It's just not right, it's not right."

Neighbors say they're taking legal action hoping to prevent the property from being built.

The property owner says building could take several years away because of money and applying for the permits.