MCKINNEY, Texas — Plans to build a mosque in McKinney are currently on hold. The McKinney Islamic Association (MIA) has pulled its application to rezone a 5.5-acre property off Virginia Parkway and Crutcher Crossing. The parcel of land, bought in 2022 by MIA, is proposed to hold a house of worship, gymnasium, and classrooms. In early July the rezoning application was discussed and later denied at a McKinney Planning and Zoning meeting.
"We're going to wait for a few months and work with the neighbors," said Samad Syed, President of the McKinney Islamic Association.
Several dozen residents from the adjacent Stonebrook Crossing neighborhood were also in attendance at the July meeting. The vast majority were in opposition to the rezoning because of traffic and congestion.
"I am very concerned about the increased traffic," said one speaker at the meeting. "It's going to consume our neighborhood," said another speaker.
Syed tells WFAA that their congregation is simply trying to meet the demands of its members. Before 2019 the mosque had about 300 members and five years later it has ballooned to 1,500 members. Syed said plans for the proposed mosque call for a 37,000-square-foot building at a 45-foot height. The size of the building is beyond what the zoning for that parcel allows for.
"We're looking at other options...whether to go for rezoning or just work with the 15,000 square foot building [rules]," said Syed.
"[It's] the traffic, the congestion. There are 400 homes in this development and there are only 2 exits," said Frank Kelly who is a 16-year resident in the Stone Brook Crossing neighborhood.
Kelly says that a combination of prayer services, school traffic, and daily commuters is too much for Virginia Parkway.
Syed understands that concern about traffic. But, refutes a claim that 3,000 members will be in attendance at one time. He stresses that they don't have 3,000 members and they'll be spread out over several services at different times. It appears the highest influx of traffic would occur on Fridays. While Syed anticipated the questions about traffic and noise he was 'surprised' to hear 'bigoted and nasty' comments from a very small minority.
“The population of the neighboring community and Stone Brooke Crossing...it's predominantly Christian-based, so I think a lot of the community residents would find this -I don’t wanna say an eye sore- but an eye sore," said one speaker.
"If my kids were walking down that road, I would not want them going to a space where there could be a risk of them getting some information which might be a misrepresentation of facts," said another speaker.
The vast majority of speakers in the July meeting made it clear in their comments the mosque was welcome and that their concern centered mostly around congestion. Frank Kelly tells WFAA some of the comments made were 'unfortunate' and 'disappointing.'
"I'm sincerely hoping the board does not take any of [those] racist comments whatsoever," said another speaker.
Syed hopes over the next few months to re-engage with the nearby community through the HOA. His hope, over that time, is to educate the public about why the building is needed for the community and to address any misinformation about the building specs or even Islam.
"They think that we represent something that we don't," said Syed. "Come and learn. When you don't know about who we are, you're going to make a lot of assumptions," he said.
The application is set to come up again on August 6 during a city council meeting. WFAA inquired with the city if this would still come up for discussion after the landowner pulled the request.
"The applicant has withdrawn their rezoning request; however, the item will still appear on the 8/6 Council Agenda because of noticing requirements. At the meeting, Council will be advised that the applicant has requested to withdraw the case, and staff has no objection, so no council action is necessary. With the withdrawal of the rezoning request, it will be up to MIA to determine if they can achieve their desired development goals under the existing zoning on the tract," read a statement from the city of McKinney.
A traffic study is still in the works and should be ready in the next several weeks.