Despite concerns about parking at a local mosque, SeaTac City Council members voted 4-2 on Jan. 22 to allow nonprofit organizations to share parking at the old Riverton Heights School site.

An amendment by Deputy Mayor Gene Fisher that would have postponed consideration of the parking ordinance for 30 days to allow city leaders to further negotiate with SeaTac Mosque officials was defeated by a 4-2 vote.

Action already had been delayed two weeks.

City Manager Craig Ward said city staffers have been talking to mosque officials about a use permit for parking at the old school site and other possible code violations. The city recently bought the property from the Highline School District.

While it was owned by the school district, people attending afternoon prayers at the mosque next door to the school at South 150th Street and 30th Avenue South parked on school grounds. That practice has continued since the city purchased the property.

Mosque officials had expressed interest in buying the school property before it was sold to the city.

"The negotiations have not produced a fruitful outcome," Ward noted. " (A 30-day postponement) may help light a fire under negotiations that have stalled out."

However, in an interview, mosque spokesman Aziz Junejo countered, "We thought our cooperation was pretty good."

On Sundays, youth pick up litter at the school site left by mosque members and neighborhood residents who use the playfield.

The mosque also hosts a picnic every year at the school and invites neighbors and SeaTac officials. SeaTac police officers and firefighters have attended but no council members have accepted an invitation, according to Junejo.

The only time parking is a problem in the area is around noon on Fridays, Junejo, a Seattle Times religion columnist, said.

Muslim men are required to pray at a mosque for 30 minutes at noon on Fridays.

Because many Muslim men leave work and return to work immediately afterwards, carpooling is limited so there could be around 100 cars converging on the area, he noted.

However, a crew sets up traffic cones in neighbors' driveways and directs traffic to the school ground or another parking site two blocks away.

Most neighborhood residents are not at home Friday afternoons, Junejo added. "Within an hour we have come and gone."

In a later interview, Ward said the city has received complaints about traffic congestion and pedestrians walking to the mosque during morning hours.

Junejo estimated that attendance at the mosque has grown by about 60 percent since the early 1970s. About 100 to 150 people regularly attend the Friday prayers. The mosque may attract another 50 people in summer who are in the vicinity of the airport and come to the mosque.

During Muslim holidays, attendance is also increased.

Within 30 to 60 days, a new mosque is expected to open in a former casino on Tukwila International Boulevard, about a mile from the SeaTac mosque, which is expected to reduce attendance at SeaTac Mosque by about half.

In addition to inadequate parking, the mosque is violating city codes relating to inadequate sanitation and a temporary tent structure, according to Ward. Men pray in the tent while women pray in the mosque building.

Junejo indicated the mosque would be willing to pay for parking at the Riverton Heights school site.

But, Ward declared, "They have to find a permanent location that meets all city requirements."

Ward and Junejo agree the solution is to find an old school building or other site to house the mosque.

Junejo indicated mosque officials are working with city staffers to find a site.

During the council meeting, Fisher said while mosque members "should be treated with respect," the mosque should not be handled differently than businesses that are required to make parking arrangements.

"This is a new way of gifting public funds from the taxpayers," Fisher charged.

Councilman Chris Wythe, chairman of the council's Land Use Planning Committee, noted the proposed ordinance would not just target the mosque.

The proposed law would allow nonprofits such as schools, service groups, city-owned facilities and religious organizations to share parking for the general public. Currently, only employees are allowed to share the parking lots.

For example, the Lutheran Social Services building, Chinook Middle School, and a church adjacent to each other at South 188th Street and 42nd Avenue South need parking at differing times.

"We should not restrict other nonprofits because of (concerns about) the mosque," Wythe said.

Mayor Ralph Shape, Councilman Tony Anderson, Councilwoman Mia Gregerson and Wythe voted against Fisher's amendment and for the ordinance.

Councilman Joe Brennan and Fisher supported Fisher's amendment and opposed the ordinance. Councilwoman Terry Anderson was absent after shattering her shoulder in a fall at home the previous week.