MILPITAS >> A Muslim faith organization has been cleared to relocate from its site of nearly 30 years near the Great Mall to a part of town zoned for industrial uses that include high-tech.
The Milpitas Planning Commission voted 6-1, with Ray Maglalang dissenting, to approve the Ismaili Cultural Center’s conditional use permit to operate as an assembly inside an existing industrial building with shared parking at 691 S. Milpitas Blvd., east of Gibraltar Drive.
City staff reports state that in April, His Highness, the Aga Khan Shia of Imami Ismaili Council for the Western USA, submitted an application seeking approval of 9,667 square feet of ground-floor space in an existing 104,000-square-foot industrial building for a religious, educational and cultural center, or Jamatkhana, on a parcel totaling 6.36 acres.
Located in a heavy industrial zoning district, the two-level building was constructed in 1998. Its current tenants include Quantros Inc., Sagent Management Corp. and Esgyn Corp. The space the group wishes to occupy is vacant, reports state.
The Milpitas Ismaili Jamatkhana currently meets in a tenant space in the Center Pointe Business Park at 224 Great Mall Parkway. But due to a forthcoming residential development near the Great Mall and the future Milpitas BART Station, the group needs to vacate that address by 2019.
Adrienne Smith, an associate planner, told the commission before it voted that Ismaili would not change the exterior of the new building it plans to occupy.
“The building will remain as it appears,” Smith said.
She added Ismaili would meet for morning meditation from 4 to 6 a.m. Monday through Friday, and for evening prayers from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The group would also hold a few weekend festivals onsite throughout the year.
In addition, Ismaili will be part of an agreement to share 320 of the more than 400 parking spaces outside the building. Parking would be shared with nine other tenant businesses that largely use those spaces from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. Adjacent businesses would generally be closed on weekends.
