City planning committee denies hearing for proposed Islamic community north of Dallas
Project includes plans for 3-story school, funeral home, 500-parking space shopping center
Officials in a Dallas suburb have rejected a proposal by a mosque to build a large Islamic development across from a local church that would include a three-story school, a retail shopping center and a funeral home.
The city of Carrollton, located about 15 miles north of Dallas, held a meeting on Dec. 4 to hear several proposals from the community, including a proposal to consider an ordinance that would rezone a nearly 9-acre tract owned by Madinah Masjid, also known as the Islamic Center of Carrollton.
According to documents filed with the city’s planning and zoning commission, the proposal would amend the zoning on the tract at the corner of Old Denton and West Jackson Roads to allow for an event center as well as revised “conceptual plans.”
Commissioners voted unanimously against the proposal and gave the mosque 10 days to appeal to the city council.
The Islamic school project is described on the mosque’s website as a planned “full time Islamic School where Muslim children can get education in an environment in which they can learn and live Islam” in an environment “where they not only follow the regular local ISD curriculum but also preserve their rich Islamic heritage.”
According to the site, construction plans include a three-story K-12 school, community center, playground, banquet hall, medical clinic, funeral home, and a retail shopping center with 500 parking spaces. Utility lines, the parking lot, the K-12 school and community center would be built under the first phase of the proposal.
“In recent years the population of Muslims in Dallas Texas has grown into many folds,” a statement on the mosque’s website reads. “Mosques and Islamic Centers are now in almost every major city in America where Muslims can practice their religion but what they are lacking now are Islamic Schools.”
The website states the 9-acre tract of land has been “purchased and fully paid” for and will be located directly across from the mosque’s current location, which is less than a mile from St. Mary’s Orthodox Church of India, which identifies with the tradition of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India.
A CP review of Carrollton city documents show the proposed development would likely be visible directly across the street from St. Mary’s church. The surrounding zoning map also includes the Dallas Elm Fork Water Treatment plant, one of three city treatment plants, which delivers 900 million gallons per day of potable water to customers across the city of Dallas and nearby communities.
The church did not respond to a request for comment as of Thursday afternoon.
The proposal drew comparisons to another controversial — and still nascent — plan for an Islamic-inspired development near Josephine, about 30 miles northeast of Dallas.
The 400-acre project originally branded as EPIC City — an initiative from the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC) — might be eyeing approval under a new name after developers scrubbed their original website and revised marketing materials amid a storm of state investigations and legislative crackdowns.
Initially planned for unincorporated areas of Collin and Hunt counties, the project, which is now called “The Meadow,” has a stated vision of 1,000 homes, a mosque and community center, a school, and other facilities tailored to Muslim families.
With an estimated Muslim population of over 400,000 according to Texas Almanac, the state has one of the largest Muslim communities in the U.S., with nearly 150,000 Muslim residents in North Texas.
