Hoover Planning and Zoning to recommend city council deny Islamic Academy of Alabama

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The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission has voted to forward the request for the Islamic Academy of Alabama and Muslim prayer center, with a recommendation to deny it.

Approximately 175 people turned out for the meeting Monday night, most in opposition to the proposed zoning change that would allow the Islamic Academy of Alabama to move into Hoover's Meadowbrook Corporate Park. Public comments lasted 40 minutes before the vote to move the matter to the city council, with a recommendation to deny the project.

"At present, staff are unable to make a positive recommendation," Mac Martin, the city planner, told the commission during the work session portion of the meeting.

"We don't find it in alignment with the comprehensive plan," Martin explained as one of the main reasons before describing concerns with both the traffic study and occupancy projections. 

The project scope seems to be "shifting and unclear," and "seems to change with each version of the traffic study," Martin said. 

The original proposal was for a K-12 school and community center. The purpose and scope of the community center evolved through multiple iterations, shifting from occasional use to use multiple times a day and several days a week, as it would serve as a public prayer and events center. During the traffic engineer's presentation, the center was repeatedly referred to as a "Prayer center."

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