Cessnock City Council has received a development application for a proposed mosque at Buchanan.
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Newcastle Muslim Association has lodged the application, with what it describes as a “softened” design, compared with what was publicly released last year.
Association spokeswoman Diana Rah said the plans had been amended in response to concerns from neighbouring residents and others in the community.
“We’ve moved the building further back off the road, we have added more landscaping, and we have softened the design of the building at the front,” she said.
“We won’t be having any minarets, any domes, any loud speakers for call to prayer. It is a building designed to fit in very much with the surrounding environment.”
Last October, the association revealed plans to build a mosque in the rural-urban area to help accommodate the growing number of worshippers who attended its Wallsend mosque.
Anti-Buchanan-mosque chants were a common feature of a large Reclaim Australia march and rally through Cessnock CBD late last year.
Fairfax Media understands the proposal will go on public exhibition after Cessnock City Council planners review it.
"It'll be treated just the same as any other development application under the legislation," Cessnock Mayor Cr Bob Pynsent said.
The application for the development, which is allowed under the zoning of the land, will be on public exhibition from March 30 to April 27.
About 200 people are expected to attend the prayer space each Friday between noon and 3pm, but up to 450 are anticipated to be at the site during annual religious festivals.
Ms Rah said the association had consulted widely before lodging the development application and was keen to secure community support for the project.
“We are part of the community, we would love the neighbours to embrace us as part of the community,” she said.
The mosque is expected to be used by up to 200 people weekly for Friday prayers and by larger gatherings twice a year for special events.
“At other times it would be very small numbers,” Ms Rah said.
“We are not relocating from Wallsend, it will just give people another option. We are currently hiring the masonic hall next door to the Wallsend mosque to accommodate everyone for Friday prayers, so this will help alleviate the overcrowding.”
Ms Rah said she hoped the extreme response that accompanied the initial release of plans for the mosque had abated and the application would be judged solely on the merits of the building.
“We have spent a lot of time and effort on the necessary reviews and taking into consideration the concerns put forward,” she said. “We have really put our best into this development.
“We are hoping for a favourable outcome from the development application and we are looking forward to being part of that community.”
2015 Cessnock protest against the proposed mosque at Buchanan
Hundreds of people took to the streets of Cessnock in November last year to protest against the proposed mosque at Buchanan.
More than 700 people marched along Vincent Street chanting “no more mosque” as part of a rally organised by Reclaim Australia, before they gathered at Civic Park and listened to arguments against the proposed development. Read on.
Meanwhile, a group of about 150 people stood in the Cessnock Performing Arts Centre car park, only a few hundred metres away, and protested against the Reclaim Australia’s march.
