09/09/2026
Statement from the Town of Mooresville Board of Commissioners
A record number of people asked to speak at tonight’s Board of Commissioners meeting. In order to hear from as many people as possible, we made an exception to the normal rules and quadrupled the length of the public comment period from a maximum of 30 minutes to a maximum of two hours.
During that two-hour period, we listened to every concern and acknowledge that people are very passionate about the Islamic Center of Lake Norman Project.
We want to be clear about what this Board can do and what it cannot do.
The Islamic Center of Lake Norman Project property sits in a Community Commercial zoning district. Under the Town’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) – which has the full force of law – religious assembly is a by-right use in that kind of district. By-right means our zoning law that has existed for nearly 30 years allows this type of use without any notice, hearing, or approval from the Board of Commissioners.
State law prohibits the Town from unilaterally down-zoning property. This means that the Town cannot reduce or remove a permitted use in a zoning district without the property owner’s consent.
By law, our role is very limited. Town staff check the plans against the existing regulations and – if the plans meet those basic objective standards – Town staff are required to approve the plans. If Town staff or the Board of Commissioners were to make up or insert new requirements, it would violate the law.
The time to weigh in on what kind of uses belong in a zoning district is when the Board zones or rezones an area of the Town. A previous Board of Commissioners made that decision about this property 28 years ago, and this project meets those standards. As a result, the current Board cannot take any votes for or against building the Islamic Center of Lake Norman.
Every property owner who builds in Mooresville goes through the same process under the same rules. The rules do not change based on who is building, and both state law and the Constitution will not let us change them. As elected officials, we took an oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of North Carolina, and we will not break those oaths.
We thank everyone for staying engaged in the life of our community. We hope everyone will treat our neighbors with respect as this project moves forward.
