ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Orange County community is fighting a plan to build a 6,900-square foot mosque near their lakefront homes.
Only about a dozen homes are currently in Royal Ranch Estates near where the mosque is planned.
Resident Maureen Maurer said one of the things she loves about the area is the quiet atmosphere and lack of city traffic.
Any large facility would take away from what makes the area a great place to live, Maurer said.
“This is still our little piece of paradise here,” she said, adding that her home is remote enough to keep her horse, Napoleon, in her back yard.
The fact that it’s a mosque has nothing to do with it, she said.
“We are really looking for it to stay as a neighborhood, which means single-family dwellings,” Maurer said.
The area where the proposed mosque would be built is zoned residential, and before it is developed, it would have to be approved by the county.
There has already been one community meeting on the mosque plan, and another is planned for next week.
This is not the first religious development area residents have fought against. They also unsuccessfully opposed the building of the Baptist Church of Windermere.