Dear Community,

The application for the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) Greater Gainesville/Western Prince William County to build a Mosque in Nokesville, VA was approved by the Prince William County (PWC) Board of Supervisors early on Jun 28, 2017. All 8 Supervisors voted to approve the Mosque. A second motion was also approved (5-3) to allow the mosque to connect to the public sewer line instead of to septic tanks on the property, which we (and many water treatment experts) believe is not environmentally friendly or even completely safe, and would cause more disruption to the land, trees and brush on the property and could even pose hazards to groundwater sources for wells in the area in the event of a failure. The second motion was approved by 5 out of 8 Board members.

We thank all of the Supervisors for supporting religious freedom by voting for the Mosque. We especially thank PWC Chairman Corey Stewart for helping to uphold equal protection under existing law based on religious land use, and for upholding principles of religious freedom in general. We also thank our interfaith partners and the many Christian and Jewish supporters who voiced solidarity and support for religious freedom throughout the entire process, and the many Government Officials who also voiced strong for the religious freedom implied in this process.

This approval for the ADAMS mosque reflects a consistent application of the Special Use Permits (SUP) for religious institutions that were granted to two other Churches and two Schools in the area known as the PWC Rural Crescent in the recent past.Throughout a lengthy application process that spanned over 3 years, ADAMS Greater Gainesville/Western Prince William County Leaders and ADAMS Board Members met with the neighbors and worked diligently to incorporate much of their feedback, and submitted 5 revisions of the original plans. We understand and accept the concerns that had been expressed over traffic, potential noise and lighting effects, and visibility of the new mosque from neighboring residences, and had effectively addressed all those concerns in the plan revisions.

The PWC Planning Commission had accepted these changes and recommended Approval to the Board, with some conditions about the sewer connection that were addressed further in the Hearing last evening. The approval for a sewer connection came after lengthy testimony by both proponents and opponents of the SUP application.

We commend the services and dedication of our legal team for land use (Walsh Colucci Lubeley & Walsh PC) for professionally representing our case. The outstanding leadership and support from ADAMS Committee for Greater Gainesville/Western Prince William County and from MAV (Dar Al-Noor) and the PWC area Muslim Community also combined to make this result not only possible but a reality. We thank everyone involved in this very protracted process, and now look forward to meeting with our neighbors and working together for common good and the benefit of the community and our entire nation.

http://wtop.com/prince-william-county/2017/06/pr-william-co-greenlights-nokesville-mosque-after-years-of-debate/