City of Edmonton Issues Foundation and Footings Permit for the Edmonton Blue Mosque

Turkish Canadian Society has reached its biggest milestone and got permission from the City of Edmonton to lay the foundation for the Edmonton Blue Mosque on August 30, 2019.

On a day Turkish Canadians celebrate “Zafer Bayramı” (i.e Victory Day), the permit issued by the City of Edmonton, was welcomed by the TCS Board of Directors as a small “victory” after almost 3 years of planning and design work by numerous volunteers.

The permit was the hard part, but another challenge awaits us next. So far all the costs incurred for the project for permit applications and any engineering etc. work we couldn’t find volunteers for ha e been paid for by the Turkish Canadian Society. However, the financial resources of the Society are nowhere near the level required to successfully complete this mosque. We need the help of all muslims around the world to make this project come true. Visit the “How can I help” page to find out how you can donate to our Mosque.

Met with CoE Safety Codes Officers to Discuss TCS Building Permit Application

On July 24, TCS volunteer Project Consultant Suat Demirer, Project Coordinator Sinem Senol, Mosque Construction Committee Member Berk Ulusoy and representative from our architectural company, Camred Architects met with the City of Edmonton safety codes officers to discuss and finalize solutions for fire safety issues related to our proposed building.

Building a new religious assembly building in a mature neighbourhood is no easy task, but building it next to an old school building that was built in 1948 (when safety codes were much different) is even a bigger challenge.

It's not one we can not overcome, though. TCS architect and project consultant were able to offer solutions accepted by the Safety Codes officers during this meeting.

We now will need to resubmit the revised plans and will be inching closer to our building permit approval.

Servicing Agreement Signed with CoE, Building Permit Review Set to Proceed

It's not easy to get a $1.5 million religous assembly building constructed in a mature, established neighbourhood... especially when we are trying to do all the project coordination with volunteers. Still, we are making steady progress.

Another condition on our development permit was to sign a Servicing Agreement with the City of Edmonton for the construction of a commercial access to our planned mosque site, the removal of 2 avenue trees, and the aligning of the catch basin with 155 Street.

Our Treasurer, and Mosque Project Coordinator Sinem Senol started the Servicing Agreement application in early April, a servicing request was created by CoE on April 18th, and as of May 29 the signed agreement has been in place.

This means that we have officially met all the conditions outlined in our development permit application. Our Building Permit application has now been released for review. It's the busiest time of the year for CoE and we anticipate many meetings and revisions in the process but we are slowly getting there.

Building Permit Application Submitted for the TCS Mosque

After almost two years of very hard work, TCS volunteer project consultant Suat Demirer and President Ahmet Topal submitted the building permit application for the TCS Mosque on May 10, 2019.

It wasn't a cheap endeavor, either. For an estimated project budget of $1.5 million, our permit fee was a little over $20K.

This permit application fee was paid as an expense previously authorized by the TCS Board of Directors, but we an definitely use your donations to help us make this project come true.

Please visit the How Can You Help? page on our website and consider making a donation for our project.

Cross-Lot Access Easement Agreement Signed with EPSB and CoE

After months of negotiations with the City of Edmonton and the Edmonton Public School Board, TCS President Ahmet Topal and our Secretary Musa Ersoy signed the Cross-Lot Access Easement Agreement on March 20th per the authority granted to them through the TCS Bylaws.

The Agreement was signed and approved by the CoE and EPSB on April 8th. We have therefore cleared the most important condition on our development permit, and secured approximately 75 square meters of land to access the parking lot of our planned mosque.

The contract negotiations were primarily coordinated by our Treasures Sinem Senol. Naturally, Turkish Canadian Society Board of Directors have saught the advice of its legal counsel throughout the process, who reviewed and made recommendations about the agreement.

The contract was secured with no cost to TCS, just a minimal amount of lien was agreed upon between the parties to ensure that TCS undertakes any maintenance or repairs to the piece of land in a timely fashion.

Project Design Meetings Held Behind the Stage as we get close to the Building Permit Application

Just because we haven't posted an update for a while doesn't mean our TCS Mosque Project isn't going full speed ahead.

Our volunteer project designer Suat Demirer has been meeting with our project engineers and consultants behind the scenes for the past few months to finalize the electrical, mechanical, structural and architectural drawings required for the building permit application.

It's not an easy process. The results of the soil test and geotechnical analysis resulted in some minor changes to the elevation of the building.

 As a result, project drawings need to be updated. Mr. Demirer has spent at least a few thousand hours making all these updates since the inception of the project. Our architectural firm, Camred Architects has been graciously hosting all the engineering meetings.

Whenever he can, our President Ahmet Topal has been attending these project meetings to get updates on where we are standing with the project, so that he can share these developments with the very excited and anxious Turkish community.

We thank all our volunteer engineers and designers for their dedication and support for our project.

Drilling for Soil Tests Completed for the TCS Mosque

On September 4, Project Consultant Suat Demirer, Diyanet Imam Mustafa Kuyuk, and TCS Treasurer Sim Senol met with the drilling team from Alpha Adroit at our planned consruction site.

Soil samples were taken from the site and sent for testing. Once we receive the results, our volunteer Professional Engineer will write the required geotechnical report which will then be used for developing the structural and architectural plans for our project.

As a non-profit society we don't have the luxury of spending thousands of dollars for the project before the building permit is approved. It slows down our progress a little but we are surely getting closer to the building permit application.

Project Development and Construction Committee selects Alpha Adroit for Drilling and Soil Tests

TCS Mosque Project Development and Construction Comittee members spent the summer months securing a volunteer professional engineer for our geotechnical report and then getting quotes from companies to complete the drilling and soil tests required for our building permit application. After obtaining quotes from multiple companies Alpha Adroit Engineering Ltd. was selected as our service provider on July 26.

Camred Architecture Inc. Selected as Project Partner

After reaching out to several architecture firms and receiving quotes from 4 companies TCS Mosque Project Development and Construction Committee (Ahmet Topal, Suat Demirer, and Sedat Çıplak) selected Camred Architecture Inc., as the design company for our project.

Camred agreed to work with our volunteer designer Suat Demirer as a project consultant. Mr. Demirer continued to do all the CAD drawings of the project as a volunteer.

With the addition of Camred to the project team, project started moving faster towards formal Development Permit application.

Reviewing Design Options and Arrival of Turkish Chaplain

Mr. Mustafa Kuyuk
Muslim Chaplain for Edmonton
addressing the Turkish Canadians
October 8, 2016

During summer 2016, Mr. Suat Demirer, a Turkish architect who works as a manufacturing engineer in Edmonton, offered his services to the Board as a volunteer. Mr. Zafer Koprulu and Mr. Suat Demirer continued to evaluate various design options. Initial feedback from the community members for the cheaper construction solution of adding a second floor to the Gym was not positive. The Board abandoned that option in early August and focused on the arrival of Mr. Mustafa Kuyuk, the newly appointed Turkish Chaplain assigned to the City of Edmonton by the Turkish Directorate of Religous Affairs.

Mr. Kuyuk and his family arrived in Edmonton on September 3, 2016 for a 5 year appointment. Through the month of September the priority for the TCS Board was to ensure the smooth settlement of Mr. Kuyuk's family in Edmonton. TCS rented a residence for the family across the street from the Cultural Centre, and ensured that the Kuyuk children started school as soon as possible.

New TCS Board Starts Discussing Project Options

Andrew Knack,
Ward 1 City Councillor
addressing the Turkish Community
on July 1, 2016

Soon after the Annual General Meeting of the Turkish Canadian Society in late May 2016, the new Board of Directors determined that the demand and desire for a Turkish Mosque was high among the growing population of the Turkish Canadians in Edmonton. The Gym also needed many repairs as it had been sealed off by Alberta Health Services due to major problems with the roof and flooring.

The new Board of Directors made construction plans a priority for the current year and started evaluating options. Initial ideas considered were building a second floor to the Gym, or knocking down the stage area of the Gym to build a mosque. During this phase, Zafer Koprulu, Chair of the TCS Building Committee, visited the City Development office to confirm current zoning requirements and to determine what options we had for our building projects.

We discussed some of our development ideas with Councillor Andrew Knack, while he visited our Society for a Ramadan Dinner.