According to the City of Peoria, it has received a high volume of calls pertaining to a conceptual proposal for a religious facility near the southeast corner of 83rd Avenue and Happy Valley Parkway. The City claims that a website for the Islamic Center of Peoria (ICP) (www.islamiccenterofpeoria.com), which asserts that the plan for the facility has received “preliminary approval” by the City of Peoria, is not accurate and the city has requested that the ICP modify its website.
In September 2014, the City of Peoria held a pre-application meeting with the ICP to discuss conceptual plans for a religious facility at this site. A pre-application meeting is part of the due diligence and an opportunity to discuss potential site, code, and process issues prior to an official submittal. There is no approval granted at a pre-application meeting and the pre-application itself does not constitute an official submittal.
According to the City, no further discussion has been held with the city on this matter since the 2014 pre-application meeting. Moreover, the city has not received any official site plan application on this proposal and no decisions have been made.
In its press release, the City says that should an application be submitted, under the law and through the Peoria’s zoning ordinance, the city cannot make a distinction based on faith and the application will be reviewed objectively. The religious faith would not be a relevant matter for consideration under the law. Any religious facility may locate, by right, in any residential or commercial zoning district in the city subject to adherence to the city’s codes and ordinances.