“IS A CALL TO WORSHIP PLANNED?” Some Residents Fight Islamic Center, But Fine With Jewish Center… Where’s The Inclusiveness?
PALM BEACH COUNTY ISSUES STATEMENT SLAMMING SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN.
DELRAY BEACH, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2026 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Scores of homeowners and residents in West Delray Beach and West Boca Raton are taking to social media — and filling our inbox — with complaints and concerns about a proposed Islamic Worship Center and School set for Lyons Road, just south of Atlantic Avenue. Most of these people did not complain about the Chabad set to be built not far from the proposed Islamic Center — east of Lyons Road on Clint Moore Road.
Both properties are in — or very near — the “Agricultural Reserve,” the once restricted area largely now used by builders like G.L. Homes and heavily marketed to out-of-state residents looking to relocate to Florida. Among the communities in or near the Ag Reserve: The Bridges, Boca Bridges, Seven Bridges, Lotus, and Mizner Country Club.
While resulting daily traffic is a major concern for all new construction in the area, specific concerns posted to social media about the Islamic Center include: “an Islamic school whose curriculum includes Arabic, Quran, and Islamic Studies” a fear that loudspeakers will broadcast a “call to worship,” and ironically for Boca Raton and Delray Beach, elevated traffic during religious holiday celebrations.
Jewish and Islamic leaders contacted by BocaNewsNow.com did not respond to our questions for this story. Among them: area synagogues that publicize their inclusiveness, acceptance, and seek media attention for annual Christmas Day outreach programs. A representative from the Islamic Center of West Delray Beach — the name for the proposed center — did not respond to our request for a phone call. We also reached out to the Chabad Chai Center set to be built on Clint Moore Road — a representative did not respond. We welcome responses from any religious leader.
The anti-Islamic Center protestors are planning to pack a meeting to be held by Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Sachs. The meeting is set for October 2nd at the South County Convention Center on Jog Road at 9:30 a.m. The Islamic school and worship center have been years in the making — the plan has worked its way through various approvals since the early 2020s. The meeting is officially set to discuss the “future of the Agricultural Reserve.” Palm Beach County took the unusual step late Monday of issuing this statement:
“Contrary to information being spread via social media,” wrote a Palm Beach County official, “this meeting is not about a specific project or planned development. The meeting will cover topics including development, affordable housing, transportation infrastructure and future agricultural use.”
What does concern look like for an Islamic Center in West Delray Beach? Read below. We are publishing a lengthy post written by a woman identifying herself as Melissa Steinberg Brodsky — a self-proclaimed “Zionist.” We are also publishing several of the comments posted after Brodsky’s remarks.
Republished From Facebook/Melissa Steinberg Brodsky
Attention South Florida peeps. You need to know about this.
On Friday, October 2 at 9:30 a.m., Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Sachs is holding a meeting at the Dr. André Fladell Civic Center in Delray Beach. The subject is “The Future of the Ag-Reserve.” In 2023 Palm Beach County approved a major development from the Islamic Center of West Delray Beach on nearly 10 acres of Agricultural Reserve land east of Lyons Road near 152nd Place South. The property had been operating as a wholesale nursery.
The approved plans call for two buildings totaling 57,912 square feet, plus more than 6,000 square feet of covered canopy space. The private VPK–12 school would accommodate 382 students, with another 32 children in daycare and 60 employees. Plans include a gymnasium, cafeteria, administrative offices, multipurpose space, tennis and basketball courts, volleyball courts, playgrounds, picnic pavilions, and 219 parking spaces.
The traffic study projected more than 1,000 additional vehicle trips every day, including hundreds during the morning rush. The project has one access point onto 152nd Place South. Palm Beach County imposed conditions involving reconstruction of part of that road, an 8-foot pathway, improvements involving Lyons Road, and money toward a future traffic signal if county engineers determine one is needed.
That’s the school.
There’s also a separate place-of-worship project. Palm Beach County records from 2021 show an application called “Islamic Center” at the southeast corner of Lyons Road and 152nd Place South. Two organizations were listed as applicants: the Islamic Center of Boca Raton and the Islamic Center of West Delray Beach. The requested use was a place of worship.
The Islamic Center of West Delray Beach had been incorporated only months earlier, in October 2020. Its current Florida corporate filing lists Hanan Khalil, Saed Khalil, and Eyad Abushaban as directors. The place-of-worship application appeared in 2021. The school application followed in 2022.
The connection to Boca is worth watching. The Islamic Center of Boca Raton operates Garden of the Sahaba Academy, an Islamic school whose curriculum includes Arabic, Quran, and Islamic Studies. The county records reviewed so far don’t establish that Garden of the Sahaba will become the West Delray school, but the Islamic Center of Boca Raton and Islamic Center of West Delray Beach appearing together on the place-of-worship application makes the relationship between the organizations a fair question.
There’s another reference buried in the county paperwork. During review of the school project, Palm Beach County Water Utilities described the contemplated future use as an elementary and secondary school “with gymnasium and place of worship.” Very few people appear to have been paying attention when this went through the approval process. In July 2023 the Zoning Commission recommended approval 7–0. County staff reported receiving no contacts from the public about the application when its report was prepared. The Board of County Commissioners approved the school and daycare conditional uses that September.
The land raises another issue. A Phase I environmental assessment identified possible soil or groundwater concerns associated with the property’s former nursery operations and lawn-equipment maintenance and repair. Palm Beach County required a Phase II environmental assessment before final Development Review Officer approval.
So residents going to the October 2 meeting have plenty to ask.
Start with traffic. What do the numbers look like today? What happens on Lyons Road and 152nd Place when hundreds of students, parents, employees, and daycare families arrive and leave? Did the traffic analysis account for an adjoining place of worship operating at the same time as the school? What happens during Friday services while school is in session?
Ask about parking. The school plan includes 219 spaces. What happens during religious holidays, school programs, athletic events, large services, and other gatherings? If the school and place of worship function together, has their combined peak parking demand ever been studied?
Ask about outdoor amplified sound. Are exterior speakers planned for either property? Is an amplified call to prayer contemplated? How frequently could outdoor amplification occur and during what hours? Where would speakers be located? What noise limits apply at nearby homes?
Ask for the Phase II environmental assessment. Was it completed? What did it find? Was contamination found in the soil or groundwater? Was remediation necessary? What testing has been performed since?
Ask about drainage. Nearly 10 acres that had been used as a nursery are slated for buildings, parking, driveways, athletic facilities, and other development. Where does the stormwater go? What happens during the kind of heavy rain South Florida regularly gets? What effect could additional development have on neighboring properties?
Ask about lighting, outdoor athletic activity, landscaping, buffers from nearby homes, construction traffic, hours of operation, emergency access, future expansion, and whether the school and place of worship are being evaluated separately even though they may ultimately operate as neighboring parts of the same religious and educational community.
And ask the question Friday’s meeting is actually about: What is Palm Beach County planning to do with the Agricultural Reserve?
The applicant argued during the zoning process that West Delray’s growing population created demand for schools and other institutional and civic uses in the Ag Reserve. County staff supported the need for the school and daycare.
That decision reaches far beyond one Islamic center.
How much Agricultural Reserve land has already been converted to schools, houses of worship, commercial development, housing, and other nonagricultural uses? How many projects are already approved but haven’t been built? How many more are in the pipeline? What limits remain? At what point does approving these projects one parcel at a time fundamentally change what the Agricultural Reserve was created to preserve?
Those are questions Palm Beach County residents have every right to put directly to their elected officials.
Friday, October 2 at 9:30 a.m.
Dr. André Fladell Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach
Commissioner Sachs called the meeting to talk about the future of the Ag Reserve.
Fill the room.
Here are some of the comments posted after the social media post. We ask you to share your thoughts in our comments section.
Read more from Melissa Brodsky here. Read the latest plans from the Islamic Center, as filed with Palm Beach County, below. Share your thoughts about inclusiveness in Palm Beach County in our comments section.
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In most respects, this should be treated like applications and proposals by any other religious group.
In my opinion though, the the Adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, which is likely to be electrically amplified considerably, would be a public nuisance.
The people of the Chabad are not planning the demise of our country. The people of the mosque are.
Too bad the locals don’t see this.
Agreed. What is wrong with this picture is the environment being built isn’t American one bit. A place of worship that assimilates with American life VS a large center teaching people to live and believe a very un-American way of life, culture and language is no true comparison.
The article is mislabeled as “Islamaphobic”. There is a current internal war and true dislike for what this community plans on teaching- it isn’t fear. Many people of this religion and culture have called “WAR” on the US American way of life many times in the recent months. Letting this highly controversial center be built brings more long term negativity than imagined. Women’s loss of rights being a major problem. Many of troops fought war and sacrificed their lives to get rid of this way of life – and still believe and feel the same as when they served. Why do some people forget? Is it because younger generations weren’t told or taught how hard Americans have fought for generations protecting the American way of life?
Also, the disappearing agricultural land is not wanted nor good for South Florida. The additional traffic ,negative effects on the environment both air quality, animal life etc, is not needed or wanted by most native to SFL. Maybe some weathy immigrants want this – but not those that settled here first.
Barbara: The people “who settled here first” were Native Americans, not you.
Is Chabbad in the “Agricultural Reserve”? This sounds like an article intentionally attempting to insight discord between Muslims and Jews in Boca Raton.
It is/will be in the Ag Reserve. And it’s not us seeking to divide.
The article is meant to be informative – but using the term “Islamaphobic” does promote divide, you have mislabeled many people in the community. The hate and dislike for that culture is deep with many native Christain/Protestant Americans and exists. Sadly many in media refuse to recognize this.
The title of this unsigned article is totally offensive. How do you compare a Muslim center which teaches Muslims to hate anyone that is not a Muslim to a Chabad that teaches love and tolerance.
Those posters sound like Laura Loomer fangirls and fanboys. Islamophobia is considered acceptable under the reign of Orange Jesus.
More Muslims than Jewish voted for Trump, so what’s your point apart from an excuse to TDS?
The blatant racism and Islamophobia exhibited by our neighbors should be an embarrassment to us all. There is a Coptic Church and Catholic School already built in the immediate area.
Where is the Catholic School around here? I will like to know.
Thank you
DSA is a non denominational Christian school. On Lyons
The goal of Chabad is to be inclusive in the context of love and respect for the United States of America. Patriotic Americans bringing “light” into the world. The goal of Muslims is to Islamafy the world. By any means necessary. Muslims cheered on 9/11. Muslims cheered the atrocities of October 7. Muslims condemn the war on Iran. Where are the “moderate” Muslims. You never hear from them. There’s a reason………..
To compare a Chabad to an Islamic Center is a disgrace. America and Americans need to wake up. Forget about being inclusive. Do you really think Islamic Muslims wish to be inclusive??? They have no intention to assimilate nor be inclusive. ISLAM AND THE QURAN are the SOLE REASON 9/11 happened!!! There have been over 66,000 terrorist attacks across the world for the sake of ISLAM – over 250,000 deaths for the sake of ISLAM. Americans need to look at what has happened in Europe. ZERO ASSIMILATION AND A COMPLETE TAKEOVER. The Middle East for centuries was mostly Christian – BUT because of the COMPLETE VIOLENT ISLAMIC MUSLIM TAKEOVER – IT IS NO MORE. All the Christian countries are now ISLAM. Most of the Christians were slaughtered just like what is happening now in Nigeria. They burn down villages, burn down churches and synagogues all for the sake of ISLAM. They rape and behead people like it is a sport all for the sake of Islam, the Quran and Allah. They have no interest in peace or co-existing – JUST ASK ISRAEL!! IT IS ISLAM OR NOTHING AT ALL TO THEM. IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN ISLAM THEY WILL KILL YOU. IF YOU DECIDE YOU WISH TO LEAVE ISLAM, THEY WILL KILL YOU. THEIR BELOVED QURAN EXPLAINS TO MEN HOW TO BEAT YOUR WIFE WITHOUT BREAKING BONES, HOW TO STONE YOU WIFE TO DEATH IF YOU SO CHOSE, IT IS OK TO MARRY A SIX YEAR OLD GIRL BUT IT EXPLAINS IN THE QURAN THAT YOU SHOULD NOT CONSUMMATE THE MARRIAGE UNTIL SHE IS 9 – THEY ARE OK WITH THIS HORRENDOUS CHILD ABUSE. IN ISLAMIC COUNTRIES WOMEN ARE NOT ALLOWED TO SHOW THEIR HAIR OR ANY PARTS OF HER BODY – NOT ALLOWED TO GO TO PUBLIC PARKS – NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK IN PUBLIC – NOT ALLOWED TO SING – NOT ALLOWED TO DANCE OR LAUGH. THEY BELIEVE IN HONOR KILLINGS AND FEEL THEY ARE JUSTIFIED – IF A DAUGHTER OR SISTER WISHES TO MARRY OUTSIDE OF ISLAM – SHE IS MURDERED BY HER FATHER AND BROTHERS. THIS IS NOT A RELIGION. THIS IS A SICK, IDEOLOGY CULT.
ISLAM IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH WESTERN CULTURE – PERIOD. AGAIN, JUST LOOK AT EUROPE!!! THEY WERE SO DETERMINED TO BE INCLUSIVE AND LOOK WHAT HAS HAPPENED.
I understand your point but the proposed Islamic Center is more than 3 x as much land 2.73 acres versus 9.85.
Since this publication has published my post without my permission…as well as bring the Chabad Chai Center into this discussion…fine, let’s talk about it.
Yes, the Chabad project is in the Agricultural Reserve. Yes, it involves new construction on a vacant parcel. The proposal is for an 18,065-square-foot synagogue with 246 seats and 83 parking spaces on about 2.75 acres along Clint Moore Road.
And people objected to it.
Neighbors raised concerns about traffic. Chabad needed zoning relief. Palm Beach County staff recommended denial of its requested rear-setback variance. People showed up and spoke both for and against the project. The Zoning Commission ultimately approved the variance by a 5–3 vote.
I have absolutely no problem with any of that.
Residents have every right to scrutinize development in the Agricultural Reserve. They have every right to ask about traffic, parking, setbacks, drainage, noise, road capacity, and the effect a project may have on the surrounding community. Whatever is eventually built also has to comply with applicable county regulations, including noise ordinances.
If a Chabad project in the Agricultural Reserve can be questioned, challenged, debated at public meetings, and opposed by neighbors without those people automatically being branded anti-Jewish, then a proposed Islamic center can be subjected to the same scrutiny without everyone asking questions about it automatically being branded anti-Muslim.
The standard can’t change with the religion.
Scrutinize Chabad. Scrutinize the Islamic center. Scrutinize the church. Scrutinize the developer who wants to put up 300 houses.
That’s what public zoning hearings are for.
@MelissaBrodsky
1. Your post was made on Facebook. No one needs your permission to repost or share it. The moment you post it, it’s public. Even if your page is private, anyone you share it with can also share it beyond the private group of followers.
2. You state that the Chabad faced criticism, and therefore the Islamic center should also face criticism. You also state that the center can be “subjected to the same scrutiny without everyone asking questions about it automatically being branded anti-Muslim”. So, I ask you: Please share the link to your post criticizing the Chabad. If you didn’t complain about the Chabad’s presence in the AG Reserve, about the traffic, the noise, etc etc, that it would bring….then yes, your lengthy post about the Islamic center is anti-Muslim, and your bias is showing.
To the rest of the people in the comments who are clutching their pearls over this, you should know that there are many Muslims living in Palm Beach County, peacefully enjoying their lives and raising their families, the same as you are. They’ve been here, they’ll always be here. Find a healthier hobby than hate.
Dearborn, MI coming to Palm Beach County? If you don’t know, look it up. Islamophobia…….yes. Sharia law, the goal, is incompatible with US law.
You are so right
This is NOT Islamophobia. Call it what it is. Chabad doesn’t disturb the neighborhood, blast calls to prayer five times a day starting at 5 AM, or try to bring Sharia law into our community. Religious freedom is one thing — changing the character and way of life of an entire neighborhood is another.
People have every right to say NO to that next to their homes. Florida is not New York, Michigan or Minnesota. This is exactly how communities change when people are too afraid to speak up.
There is no such thing as Islamophobia. A phobia is an unwarranted fear. Fear of Islamic terror, as well as fear of the damage that may be caused to our democracy by Muslims’ anti-American ideals, is quite real.
Wake up people. See what’s going on in Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and most European countries when Muslims invade and take over entire cities. They force out local police departments and create their own Sharia law enforcement. And don’t give me this crap about “inclusiveness”. They don’t blend in and they want to change our way of life to what they are accustomed to. Their Islamic teachings instruct them to “kill all infidels (nonbelievers).” Are these the people you want to be your neighbors? They will destroy our country if you so called progressives don’t open your eyes and recognize the evil that they bring.
BocaNewsNow you guys are a disgrace for trying to compare Chabad to this Islamic center. Know your crowd and know that people don’t think the two should ever be compared.
Boca News Now is sounding like the New York Times, and that’s not a compliment;). Trying to guilt or shame readers isn’t a good look. DARVO much? The very term Islamophobia is Orwellian-speak: a phobia is an *irrational* fear, but fearing terrorism is completely rational. The world map tells the story of Islamist conquest since the 6h century. What happened to all those Christian, Zoroastrian, Coptic etc countries? Conquered, forced to submit. Read the Muslim Brotherhood manifesto, understand “soft jihad,” and investigate this properly, because once built, it’ll be awfully hard to undo. I just heard that the existing center in Boynton Beach is already preaching the “death to the infidels” message-whether true in that case or not, this is happening from Dearborn to Orlando, Patterson to London to Malmo and more.
Good job Boca News Now! Drawing attention to the hate. It’s really sad to read many of the comments here.
My objection is to the developmentvof what was supposed to be an ag reserve. Developers I believe give kick backs in the form of vampsign donations to these politucians and rezone so developers can build build build. Forget the who. Its development when its supposed to be farm land. We gotta eat and grow our food so we dont have to import it.
This can’t happen. We are so overcrowded as it is -Born and raised in this area maybe it’s time to move out. The wildlife where will they go. We have coyotes running the street. Their habitats are gone. The building has to stop!!
Islamic teaching clearly states that if you don’t follow their beliefs, you are an infidel and deserve to die, be raped, burned alive and beheaded. How do you compare this to a Chabad and the teachings of Judaism?
Islamophobia is a term made up by Muslims to convince the world that they are the oppressed. Consider this and fight with everything you have to keep them out of Boca and Delray. Quran 9:29 – “Fight those who do not believe in Allah… until they pay the Jizya with willing submission and feel subdued.”
Quran 8:12 – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. So strike them upon the necks and strike from them every fingertip.”
Sahih Muslim 1:33 – “I have been commanded to fight the people until they testify that there is no god but Allah…”
Apostasy punishment: Sahih al-Bukhari 6922 – “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.”
Chabad, Jews, Churches, and Christians and their holy texts don’t urge their followers to kill the infidel. Islam is different. They will deny this which is also embedded in their teachings.
There is no such thing as “Islamophobia”. It is an oxymoron of the highest level. A phobia denotes a fear of an innocuous object or action. It has been well documented in the last 1400 years that any fear of this ideology is exceedingly well founded. It tenets are well defined and contrary to the structural design of our Western civilization. It is a theocratic ideology which should never have been given status as a religion in the USA. One either blind, deaf or have limited cerebral function to not know of the chaos and savagery it has caused in not just yesterdays world but today’s where it is more dangerous than it has ever been before.
There has never been a member of Chabad that has intensionally funded a “hate” organization. I have worked at a location where one of the employees was wearing not just a hajab but a baseball cap that had “Resist” embroidered on it a slogan used by H@mass supporters. This “communitiy center” would only further entrench ties to know terror organizations. Muslims have a problem with Jews, Hindus, Catholic, Buddists, the LBGQ community yet the rest of the world is labeled “Islamophobic”. If you look at Europe and in some “Blue States” there are many churches and other artistic venues that have been destroyed or burned to the ground. They may not be reported in the mainstream media but they do not want to offend anyone. This “Islamic Center” cannot be permitted to be built anywhere in the US as Islam is not compatable with Western Civilization. Chabad on the other hand celebrates the Torah which is the basis of the Judean-Christian laws this country is based on.
Agreed, and well stated.
Honestly, this surge in Zionist extremism (e.g. Laura Loomer, Randy Fine and these local lunatics) is the best thing to happen to Muslims in America in decades.
Normal Americans want nothing to do with torch-waving mobs screaming supremacist garbage and scaring innocent local families. They’re too deep in their hated to see how insane they look.
They’re the reason the tide is turning against Israel in the U.S. Keep it up 🙂
Who is paying for the Islamic Center? Any information on that? Was this question asked?
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