Groundbreaking for new Rolling Meadows mosque coming four years after council vote
Practically four years to the date of a zoning approval in Rolling Meadows, groundbreaking for the Islamic Society of Northwest Suburbs' new mosque is scheduled for Saturday.
City officials are expected to join members of the community for a noontime ceremony at 1200 Hicks Road. That's where construction crews will convert the vacant one-story, 47,534-square-foot brick industrial building the society purchased in 2016 into its new prayer hall.
The general contractor on the project received a city construction permit Wednesday, the day after the city council agreed to waive nearly $63,000 in permit fees because the society is a nonprofit. But the mosque still is on the hook for $69,000 in costs the city is passing along because it used outside consultants to review plans and also will use them to perform inspections.
Even after the key council rezoning vote on Aug. 28, 2018 - two years after aldermen rejected initial plans - it's been hard to get a shovel in the ground due to the pandemic and complexities involving site plans, officials said.
Mohammed Abdul-Gaffoor, secretary of the society's board of directors who is running point on the mosque project, said leaders worked to get approval from the Illinois Department of Transportation, which has jurisdiction over Hicks, and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, which evaluated stormwater upgrades for the site.
As part of conversations with city planners, the society is providing an easement for a sidewalk along Hicks that would fulfill the vision of making the area more pedestrian-friendly, Abdul-Gaffoor said.
He acknowledged the financial hardships the nonprofit has faced, having lost about half of its paid membership during the past two years and now facing increased building material costs and inflation.
While not providing an updated cost figure, the society's website in April listed the price for the initial building plan and site plan at $5.1 million - of which about half had been secured in donations.
"The remaining half is expected to come once the donors actually see the visible progress on the construction," Abdul-Gaffoor said.
The work will include mostly interior upgrades and some exterior changes to make the building look like a house of worship. Future phases call for a Sunday school, gymnasium, library and multipurpose room/banquet hall.
Members currently attend weekly services around the corner in a 5,000-square-foot building at 3950 Industrial Ave. The society opened its first mosque in a 5,000-square-foot building down the block in 1986.
Initial renovations are expected to be completed in time for the Islamic holy month of Ramadan next March.