The city of Apopka was not aware of a downtown mosque’s presence until the applicant requested a special exception for the construction of a new mosque, according to Mayor Bryan Nelson.  

On Oct. 14, the Planning Commission unanimously agreed to grant a special exception for the proposed mosque, although the city has yet to approve the building plans. 

When construction of the new mosque will begin is unknown because it depends on how soon the suitable paperwork is brought to the city for approval, Nelson said in a Tuesday interview with The Apopka Chief.  

“It depends on what they’re building,” he said. “It could be a staff level driven item, it could be a Planning Commission item, or it could be bumped all the way to the City Council.” 

Around the time of the October Planning Commission meeting, the city finished fire safety inspections and began processing other paperwork for getting the existing mosque in compliance, Nelson said.  

“We did go out, and we’ve done a fire assessment; they’ve got the right number of fire extinguishers,” Nelson said. “So I know our fire department’s been out to make sure they’re in compliance, as far as fire safety.” 

The city has knowledge of the churches located near the mosque because they have undergone remodeling or improvements, which prompted the churches to obtain documentation, permits and inspections from the city.  

“I know the one church behind them, which would be south of them, they added an addition and it’s been probably five or six years ago, but I know they would have had inspections,” Nelson said. He said another church west of the mosque also made upgrades that required city approval. 

The Muslim Community Center of Apopka (MCCA) received no special exception, business tax receipt, fire inspection, or building inspection since the purchase of the property in 2017, but the applicant approached the city for a special exception for new construction, city planner Bobby Howell said at the Oct. 14 meeting. 

After discussion, the Planning Commission voted to grant a special exception for the construction of a 6,436-square-foot mosque on a two-acre, mixed-use downtown property. The existing single-story building at 458 Oakland Ave. is already in use as a house of worship, but the MCCA wants to keep that building and construct the new mosque there as well. 

City land development code requires a special exception for a place of worship in the mixed-use downtown zoning district, according to the Planning Commission staff report. 

Days after the Planning Commission meeting, board member Wes Dumey wrote a statement in direct response to several Facebook posts. These posts said the Planning Commission had not upheld its duties regarding the special exception granted to the MCCA. 

The Apopka Critic posted Dumey’s statement on its Facebook page on Oct. 17. In it, Dumey acknowledged a social media backlash. 

“It’s clear that a number of community members do not agree to hosting a mosque in this city,” Dumey said. “To that I’ll say it’s already existing, but simply because it’s already here does not oblige us to grant them the exception independent of the zoning. I am very cognizant of the fact that for years there has been a double standard of rules being applied differently depending on the person and that needs to stop now, which is part of the reason I supported allowing the mosque to move forward with their request, given that numerous other local churches of varying religions are located nearby and often in the same situation as the Islamists.” 

In an Oct. 23 interview, Dumey told the Chief that the issue of granting a house of worship a special exception had not been a topic of concern for years at the commission’s meetings. 

“This was the first one I can recall in recent history coming before us,” he said. “It was just a situation where I wanted to clarify some questions that were being asked on social media … We have a very high diligence of making sure that we’re applying the city code and the city rules fairly and equitably.” 

As a result of this situation, Dumey intends to propose a new policy at the next Planning Commission meeting in December. (The commission will not meet in November because the second Tuesday is Veterans Day.) His proposal will request that any future house of worship must be compliant with city code before receiving a special exception. 

Other places of worship within the MCCA’s vicinity have existed for decades, Howell said on Oct. 14. But they predate the city’s adoption of its current land development code in 2019 — the code that now requires special exceptions for places of worship in the downtown area. 

A community meeting about the new mosque was scheduled for July 19, but according to a July 21 letter from the worship center, no one attended. The letter did not say how long the mosque had been in operation.  

Orange County Property Appraiser records show the MCCA purchased the single-family building on Oakland Avenue in July 2017 from Minhas Investments.  

The MCCA did not respond to requests for comment on this story. 

Reactions to the new mosque have been mixed on social media. Some residents advocated for the Islamic community’s religious rights. 

“Freedom of religion applies to everyone,” Christopher Vaska posted on Facebook. 

Others expressed reservations.  

“You all have no idea what you are getting into,” Tracy Chaddon wrote on Facebook. 

Vice Mayor Diane Velazquez also commented on the social media reactions in a Monday interview. 

“It’s unfortunate that the Muslim community and the mosque don’t have a positive image both in the [news] media or social media; [the image] has been more anti-American,” Velazquez said. “People fear having a mosque in the community and fear Muslims coming into the community.” 

Velazquez, a New York City native and retired NYPD police officer, said she recalls the public backlash against mosques there in the 1970s. Her main concern, she said, is how a mosque has existed within the city of Apopka for years without filing the proper paperwork.