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St. Louis Post-Dispatch - August 15 2007
Council approves plan for mosque
in south St. Louis County
By Tim Townsend
The St. Louis County Council on Tuesday unanimously reversed a previous vote and decided to let a group of Bosnian Muslims build a new mosque in south St. Louis County.
Before casting his vote, Councilman John Campisi - in whose district the mosque will be located - addressed the Muslims' 100 or so supporters.
"I hope we can work together," Campisi said. "This is all I asked for from the beginning, but it got goofed up in translation."
The new resolution in support of the mosque included a request for additional traffic and architectural studies that Campisi said he had asked the Bosnian group for months ago.
"I'm glad you're finally willing to come up with what we asked for," he told the mosque's supporters.
As the meeting concluded, many of the mosque's supporters rushed to shake Campisi's hand.
After the meeting, County Executive Charlie Dooley said he would ask the county's attorney to settle a lawsuit the Muslims had brought against the county over the zoning dispute that had thwarted plans for the mosque.
"I'm glad we're all moving forward," said Dooley. "This was the right thing to do."
In the spring, the council voted 4-3 against the Islamic Community Center's request to rezone a 4.7-acre parcel that the center had bought in south St. Louis County for $1.25 million. The Muslims planned to build a second mosque
and community center on the land, to accommodate the movement of many in the Bosnian community from the city to the county.
The county planning commission had approved the rezoning…..
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/story/4BA880A4F21816C68625733800118BAC?OpenDocument
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