'We didn't lose faith': Rolling Meadows mosque gets final approval
More than two years after initial plans were rejected, a Rolling Meadows mosque got approval Tuesday from city aldermen to relocate and expand its prayer center.
The Islamic Society of the Northwest Suburbs plans to move from its current 1-acre site at 3950 Industrial Ave. around the corner to the 8-acre property it purchased at 1200 Hicks Road. There, it would renovate a vacant one-story, 47,534-square-foot brick industrial building into a prayer hall and Sunday school.
“We had faith in the city council in 2016, but we didn't lose faith,” said Abdul Javid, a mosque board member and its outreach committee chair who continued lobbying city officials even after the last council's 4-3 denial of zoning changes in April 2016.
Now with some newly elected and appointed members, the council Tuesday night voted 7-0 in support of the mosque's request to change city zoning code with a text amendment that would allow religious uses as a special use at the Hicks Road site, which is in the city's manufacturing district. They also voted 6-1 in favor of that special use, with Alderman Mike Cannon casting the lone “no” vote.
Cannon and fellow Alderman John D'Astice had previously expressed opposition to the mosque plans, but D'Astice changed his vote Tuesday night in the final, second reading tally from his preliminary first reading vote on Aug. 14. D'Astice offered and earned support from three other aldermen for an amendment to the ordinance that only allows the city zoning code change for an area roughly covered by the mosque's Hicks Road property and other neighbors.
“Two weeks ago we heard differing opinions on this text amendment,” D'Astice said. “It may have seemed that we were discussing the Islamic Society when in reality the discussion was about the Rolling Meadows M-1 manufacturing district. If anyone felt my opinions were directed against the Islamic Society, I apologize.”
The amendment, D'Astice said, protects much of the city's manufacturing district while allowing the mosque to move forward with its plans.
The mosque could be open by 2021, while future phases call for a gymnasium for youth activities and a multipurpose room.