LEWISTON — Backers of a downtown mosque are testing the water to see if the city is willing to sell a portion of Franklin Pasture for mosque parking.

The Planning Board is scheduled to discuss a proposal by Floyd Jenkins, owner of 256 Bartlett St., to use 10,000 square feet of land behind it for mosque members to park. Jenkins rents the property to the mosque.

Jenkins is being represented by Keller Williams real estate agent Steve Morgan, the City Council representative for Ward 7.

Planning Director Gil Arsenault said the mosque has been closed since Feb. 25 because of the lack of parking.

“They had an agreement to provide parking that allowed them to have a certificate of occupancy, and that was a temporary agreement,” Arsenault said. “It was due to expire on Feb. 24, and they did not make an application for a new one.”

But Arsenault said mosque leadership and Jenkins have been working to find a supply of permanent parking.

“They would like to purchase a piece of Franklin Pasture property to square off their lot,” Arsenault said. “It’s not a formal proposal yet. If they make an offer, there are a number of departments and committees that would have to review it and make a recommendation to the City Council. That’s what they are doing, checking with the Planning Board to see if they see anything inappropriate with it.”

Parking has been an issue between the mosque and its neighbors. 

The city approved the temporary occupancy permit for building at 256 Bartlett St. as a mosque in November 2009, requiring building owner Jenkins to provide 17 parking spaces nearby and to limit occupancy to 98 people at a time.

Last summer, former City Councilor Denis Theriault, who owns the land across the street, and next door neighbor Elmer Berry said mosque-goers regularly parked on their property, taking spaces from their tenants. The mosque regularly drew more than the 98 occupants, they said, and its members parked anywhere they could.

Neighbors also accused mosque-goers of retaliating when the property owners complained. Theriault and Berry accused mosque members of using their cars to block driveways, leaving trash behind, throwing rocks onto their property and destroying signs.

staylor@sunjournal.com