It's a kind of a unique lot. It's a very large lot. It's 11 and a half acres. Uh heavily wooded. You can't even see the you can barely see the house and you won't really be able to see the building at all from any road or any neighbor.

I'll agree with you there because I drove up that road today to try to find it.

You know I also got the chance to see the property but you know just from the end of the driveway I didn't drive up the driveway but lots of mature trees 11 and a half acres which is more than single on the west side of I35 just seemed like the type of property that um that that we would apply the the policy with.

We are professionals, parents, students, and above all your neighbors. The masjid will not only be space for prayer, but also for community service and interfaith engagement. We have carefully planned the project to meet all city requirements from parking to from parking and traffic to landscaping and safety ensuring it fits harmonously within the neighborhood.

Right now, many families travel long distance to attend prayers and having a local masjid would make a big difference for us. Our congregation has outgrown our current location and we are excited to create a permanent home here.

This mosque would be an essential foundation for nurturing the growing Muslim community here in Lakeville which has never had a place of worship close or convenient to them... This is about making Lakeville more inclusive, more connected, and more reflective of the people who live here.

We used to go to the Rose Mount Masjid but it was too far away and it took too much to drive. I'm also taking educational classes at the Lakeville Masjid. So it makes sense to have a mosque here where I live.

As a business community, we are very excited and uh uh welcoming this institution because this institution is not only helping the Muslims for the worship but is a learning place and it also engage the community and it also contribute positively to the city's cultural and social life as well.

All I'm asking is if we could make a delay on the vote itself. I got this four days ago that said there was a public hearing tonight and a lot of my neighbors never got anything and I just think we should wait to on your vote until we get in as neighbors and um part of you know in the back get a more of a chance to at what this really means for our neighborhood.

One of the biggest challenge that we have or I have living in Minnesota is that every day I have to drive 30 miles or 25 miles long way from here... So having this mosque giving us permission would give us a huge plus to attract people like us to live here and expand the community and the connection and the business opportunities in future.

The wording which needs clarification is this quotes overflow parking arrangement secured with the neighboring church. And when I when I read that, I'm just here to clarify as was said that no agreement is uh in place uh for overflow parking on a regular basis. I I had coffee and we did agree for the Muslim American Society to use our parking as an overflow for a specific event a few months ago.

State law requires uh notification both published in the city's official newspaper at least 10 days in advance of the public hearing as well as mailed notification. Um we are required to mail to all property owners within 350 ft by state law. Lakeville goes above and beyond that. It mails to all property owners within 500 feet.

So, uh mainly service on is on Friday. So, we have uh we can have multiple sessions for Friday prayer. And that's how we are managing uh in other places uh the uh uh the parking... For those particular uh holidays we actually uh book a different avenue and we do over there. Yeah. And those are only two days in the year.

Has there been a a traffic study done uh for this development and and what cause? I mean we we're talking about parking and I can understand that parking might be you know one of the issues that pops up from time to time, but what about all the traffic that into the this downtown area because it is downtown Lakeville?

No. This is not a situation where we would consider a traffic study necessary. We've had other religious institutions that have built buildings that can accommodate um hundreds of people on their site and we have not required traffic studies for those um uses.

I think as far as I'm looking at this and considering this um we we see plenty of religious institutions come forward. Um typically that um have the same parking requirements in place. Those are the parking requirements that are laid out for us to consider and think about as we're looking at these. And this proposal meets those parking requirements. So from that standpoint, I view this as something that fits within what the city's typical process is for any religious institution, regardless of the religion.

I know that this country is a country of opportunity and you know blaze of accepting everybody... this message has been a family a safe place for all my kids... this place has given us purpose of to worship and to gather and to eat together and celebrate every day... I hope that you gave my children, my five children, the opportunity to grow and stay safe. Not only are my kids, but there are kids, teenagers that come in every morning and they get to be taught to stay safe, to respect others, not to do harm.