BYLINE:    NANCY MEERSMAN Union Leader Staff
DATE: January 12, 2005
PUBLICATION: Union Leader, The (Manchester, NH)
EDITION: State
SECTION: News
PAGE: A1

MANCHESTER -- A Hillsborough County Superior Court judge has removed a legal roadblock that stood in the way of construction of New Hampshire's first Islamic mosque, on Karatzas Avenue off Wellington Road.

The Islamic Society of Greater Manchester, which has been trying to build a mosque since 1999, obtained city permits in 2003 to build a 13,085-square-foot mosque on a site it owns on Bald Hill.

But abutters Milton and Sally Healy Argeriou, 300 Karatzas Ave., contested the approval in court, claiming the mosque site did not meet setback requirements.

The Argerious argued that by virtue of a previous court case, they own the entire width of a never-constructed "street" called Ingraham Avenue that existed only on old city maps. They said the Islamic Society had no legal right to any part of the street and alleged the project was trespassing on their property.

The Islamic Society contended that the Argerious owned only to the mid-line of the street and the society owned the other half. Judge Carol Ann Conboy agreed.

"Each side owns to the center line," said the Islamic organization's attorney, Andrew H. Sullivan. He said the ruling means the Islamic Society now "can pick up their building permits" and start construction.

Sullivan said the mosque project required only four feet of the old "paper" street, and the court confirmed that the mosque owns a 20-foot wide section of the street.

If the judge had ruled against the Islamic Society, it would have had to ask the zoning board for a variance to the frontage and setback requirements, Sullivan said.

Homeowners on Karatzas Avenue have tried to block the project because they object to the traffic it will bring and because the city did not require the mosque to pay for improvements to Karatzas Avenue, which residents say is in deplorable condition.

The Argerious' attorney, Robert E. Murphy Jr., said the court ruling clarifies the court's prior decree on the paper street. Asked if his clients would appeal, Murphy said, "That's still under consideration."

The Islamic Society of Greater Manchester first proposed the mosque in 1999. The organization sued the city after the proposal was twice rejected by the zoning board on the grounds that Karatzas Avenue was not an accepted city street. The city eventually agreed not to block the project for that reason.

Islamic Society leaders did not return telephone calls yesterday. In a previous report, a spokesman for the group said the structure would have a dome, but no minaret or loudspeakers.