LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Nokesville Mosque will Benefit Community

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Front and side views of greater Gainesville ADAMS mosque as per ADAMS website. Front and side views of greater Gainesville ADAMS mosque as per ADAMS website.

By Robert Marro, Syed Murtaza

Letter to the Editor

The Bristow Beat story of March 14 on the Nokesville Civic Association's opposition to the ADAMS mosque on Vint Hill Road cogently noted the concerns of some surrounding neighbors, but unfortunately did not fully highlight all efforts our ADAMS mosque and community have made to address every one of those concerns.

The story noted the frustration of many residents who still "resent the influx of traffic brought in by nearby Patriot High School."  That is key: this understandable and very powerful resentment has undoubtedly colored the perception of many residents who fear any development that could bring an equal volume of traffic and activity to a neighborhood already disrupted by such a large and well attended facility as Patriot High School. If I lived on Schaefer Lane, I too would likely resent the traffic a large high school with a student body well over 2500 strong---and the many hundreds of cars of the students, teachers and staff coming and going EVERY day. But that however will never be replicated by the ADAMS mosque.

This is not only comparing apples and oranges, but more like comparing a tiny hillock with a vast mountain. And it completely ignores all the efforts ADAMS has made to fully address and mitigate all their concerns. The total number of worshippers who come to the mosque now, and for the entire foreseeable future, is and will remain only a tiny fraction of the Patriot HS student, faculty and staff body.

Moreover, we have tried to do everything possible to mitigate the concerns of our neighbors. At the initial meetings, neighbors told us they opposed the following: the County’s designating the sole access point to the property from Schaefer Lane; insufficient parking spaces to preclude any spillover onto residential streets; building being too high for the zoning; and insufficient open space proposed to preserve the character of the Rural Crescent.

Every one of those concerns (and more) has been fully addressed. We succeeded in getting the County to change the access to the property to be from Vint Hill Road, thus completely obviating the concerns about more traffic on Schaefer Lane.  We added 50 parking spaces so total parking will be 300 vehicles and will obviate any need for spillover. We also changed our design so the mosque roof will now be only 45 feet high, 15 feet lower than the zoning ordinance. We also have ensured that almost 75% of the property will be open space, in complete keeping with the character of the Rural Crescent.

More important, we have repeatedly assured the community (and demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt) that our prayer services will not impact traffic in the neighborhood.  We will carefully adjust the timing of our Friday prayers so congregants will enter and leave the property well before the School dismissal times, and therefore be completely gone by the time the major school traffic hits Vint Hill Road.  And the planned widening of Vint Hill Road will undoubtedly further alleviate any traffic issues.

We have also assured our prospective neighbors (and Supervisor Lawson) that our daily prayer services Monday through Thursday only attract a small group of worshipers, similar to the small handful of congregants who attend daily Mass or Services at their respective churches. Only on Friday, from 11:30 AM - 1:30 PM, would there be a significant number of worshipers (we estimate around 125 persons currently) coming to prayer services, and they would arrive well after the school day starts, and leave well before school dismissal.

We also committed to Sunday school activities only, with no intention of full time school  or other similar activities on weekdays.  Hence, there will be no traffic impact from such activities during the week.

As the article noted however, these alterations have not been able to satisfy the residents’ objections.  That of course begs the question of what are those objections really?  The resident in the article who called the mosque a"monstrosity" is very telling. I truly wonder if that resident has ever really studied the plans for the building, and seen that it was specifically designed to fit the character of the Rural Crescent. I am not sure how a mosque can be considered a “monstrosity” while the Victory Crossing Church down the street, Patriot High school, or a new Roman Catholic Church recently approved in the Haymarket area of the Crescent, are not.  And we hope the woman who claimed a mosque “would incite people” does not actually intend a more general and simple bias against Muslims.

We realize many residents in this area want to live in a rural district, and preserve the quality of life they had originally moved there to find. We do not believe however that this mosque would do anything to endanger that quality of life. Over the years, other areas in northern Virginia have had similar concern over the potential consequences of having a mosque, but in fact they have typically seen a net benefit, and often a revitalization and even an enhancing of the value of the surrounding residential area.

The many branches of ADAMS have striven hard to be good neighbors, and benefit their neighborhood. There will be no difference in Nokesville. We have made clear our intention to be "good neighbors", so we can all enjoy our neighborhood.  But just like Vint Hill Road itself, this entire issue is a “two-way street." We sincerely hope and pray our neighbors will show the same spirit of compromise and flexibility as we have throughout this process.

Sincerely,

Robert Marro, ADAMS Trustee and Co-Chair, Government & Community Outreach

Syed Murtaza, Chairman, ADAMS Gainesville

This post is the opinion of its writer and does not reflect the opinions of Bristow Beat, its editorial staff, reporters, or sponsors. 

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