Developer vows to push forward on Lino Lakes mosque project even if city tries to stop it

The developer planning a large Muslim-oriented housing development that includes a mosque in Lino Lakes says he won’t be deterred even if the north metro city enacts a moratorium that could delay the project.

Though the Madinah Lakes development was not on Monday’s City Council agenda, a parade of residents and others opposing and supporting the project stepped to the microphone to discuss the contentious issue during the open-comment period that lasted nearly an hour.

“My team remains resolute in our dedication to this project, and I will continue to navigate through any obstacles that may arise or are thrown at us,” said Faraaz Yussuf, owner of Zikar Holdings, which is proposing the neighborhood on the 156-acre Robinson Sod Farm on the 300 block of Main Street.

In recent weeks, rhetoric — some complimentary and other comments grounded in Islamophobia — has been circulating online and in public as the City Council debates enacting a moratorium on development in the northwest quadrant of the city. On Monday, an overflow crowd holding signs that read “Slow the Grow” and “Moratorium Masks Discrimination” filled council chambers, symbolizing the divide in the city of about 22,000 residents.

Luke Walter, speaking for a recently formed group called Love Lino Lakes, said the group is against the project that would bring hundreds of single-family homes, apartments, townhomes, a senior living facility and a large mosque to the city in 2025. Retail outlets and parks also are part of the development.

“We are opposed to all large-scale developments,” Walter said Monday. “We do not discriminate.”

Noni Karkoska, who lives near the proposed development, said she welcomes Madinah Lakes and questioned why the council would consider a moratorium in just one section of the city.

“I am a believer that we are more alike than we are different,” she said at Monday’s meeting. “Lino Lakes has an incredible opportunity to demonstrate we are stronger together.”

Others expressed concerns about the new development straining the city’s water system, bringing in more traffic and noise, air quality troubles and burdening the school system. But Jaylani Hussein, executive director of CAIR-Minnesota and an urban planner by trade, said groups or entities often use those concerns to hide their true intentions, and that those issues can be addressed and mitigated during the planning process. The idea of a moratorium at this point seems discriminatory since a previous proposed development did not face that scrutiny, he said.

Madinah Lakes submitted a land-use application on April 25.

“The fact that the previous developers did not face this level of opposition, or the threat of a moratorium clearly highlights the discriminatory nature of the challenges facing the Madinah Lakes project,” he wrote in an April 26 letter to Mayor Rob Rafferty, all City Council members, Gov. Tim Walz, State Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Minnesota Human Rights Department. “We urge Lino Lakes to adhere strictly to federal and state laws, ensuring that the Madinah Lakes project is treated equitably and without prejudice.”

Lino Lakes has yet to enact a moratorium. The council meets next on May 28. If it decides to initiate a moratorium at that or a subsequent meeting, the matter would be referred to the city’s Planning and Zoning Board for review and recommendation. The recommendation would then be brought back to the City Council with an opportunity for public input, said city spokeswoman Meg Sawyer.

Depending on what action the city eventually takes, Hussein said CAIR and the developer could take federal and state legal action.

“We will start off on the wrong foot,” he said. “In this state, I will make sure Muslims are welcome whether the city likes it or not.”