Path more complicated for controversial Lino Lakes housing, mosque development

Lino Lakes is poised to approve new development guidelines that would complicate plans for a sprawling housing project with a mosque that has driven controversy in the suburban city.

Residents packed city meetings last year to debate the proposal that called for more than 400 homes, townhouses and apartments, a shopping area and a mosque on the site of an old sod farm in the northwestern corner of the city. The council enacted a yearlong moratorium halting residential development in the broader 960-acre area, and the developer is suing the city over the delay.

As the moratorium ends Friday, architect Dean Dovolis said it would cost “hundreds of thousands” of dollars to alter the project to fit the new master plan proposed for the area, which would shift where commercial space and denser housing could go.

“The changes would be major if we’d have to restart it all over again with the layout and organization of the site,” Dovolis said, depending on the city’s zoning decisions.

The Lino Lakes Planning and Zoning Board on Wednesday evening advanced the new master plan for the area officials call a key “gateway” along Main Street, between Sunset and 4th avenues.

Officials said the master plan, as well as an environmental assessment, were needed because of significant development interest in the area over the past couple of years. That included a proposal from PulteGroup for an active senior living community on about 240 acres north of Main Street. Then developer Faraaz Mohammed pitched the “Muslim-friendly” community on more than 150 acres.

Lino Lakes’ current long-term plan, which officials use to determine whether projects meet the city’s development goals, calls for higher-density housing and commercial space to be built toward the middle of the northwestern site, near Main Street and between Sunset and 4th avenues.

Bunge said the plan balances neighbors’ requests, the goals of the city and metro region, to create a “framework for thoughtful, sustainable growth for the next 30-plus years in this area.”

Residents filled Wednesday’s planning meeting, including several who argued against adding denser housing and voiced concerns about straining city resources.

“It’s clear that our residents, over and over and over again, say we do not want to be dense,” said resident Julia Nelson, who is running for City Council this fall. “We do not want to be Blaine. We like how Lino is now. We truly do want to slow the growth of Lino.”

The City Council is expected to consider the plan at its Aug. 25 meeting.

The proposal for a large housing development with a mosque quickly became controversial, with many residents showing up to meetings and holding signs that read, “Slow the grow.”

After the council enacted the moratorium on residential development, Mohammed sued the city, alleging anti-Muslim discrimination. Earlier this year, a federal judge denied Mohammed’s request for the city’s moratorium to end early.

In response to requests for an interview, Mohammed’s attorney Matthew Duffy said he looks forward to the end of the moratorium and the completion of the master plan.

“Regardless of the outcome, we [remain] committed to delivering a project that benefits the Lino Lakes community in the long run,” Duffy said in a statement.

Mohammed’s lawsuit came a day after the council voted to censure Council Member Chris Lyden, who applauded an email that called Islam “our declared enemy” and claimed there was “no such thing” as Islamophobia.

But some Lino Lakes residents raised Mohammed’s past legal troubles as a point of concern about the developer. Those include a conviction for theft by swindle in 2013 and a lawsuit that alleged Mohammed went by a different name to mislead a client for contracting work that was not completed.

Mohammed previously said the allegations were “frivolous and unfounded.”

Mohammed was sued again in June, this time by Capital One for allegedly failing to pay back a roughly $3,600 loan. A judge last week dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice.

Over the past year, Lino Lakes officials have studied development scenarios for the massive, rural northwestern area of the city.

Resident Sam Bennett said he would like to see more commercial space near parkland to create foot traffic.

“I’d like to be able to take the kids to the playground, then go to buy lunch or get ice cream without having to drive,” Bennett said. “I think the city needs to be more focused on making places that people want to be.”

Michael Grochala, community development director, said he assumes the city will see development applications “coming in in the short term” for the site. He said the city would work with developers on submitting proposals and meeting new standards.