A new lawsuit challenges a local government's refusal to allow expansion of a mosque, this time in Lilburn, Georgia.
Following recommendations from the Lilburn Planning Commission, the city council twice has denied the rezoning — its latest vote last month. The council said the plans would create traffic and drainage problems.
Wasi Zaidi, who helped found the congregation in 1998, isn’t convinced those are council members’ and residents’ only concerns.
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City officials declined to discuss specific issues in the case. Residents against the expansion say they’re opposed to the congregation’s plans, not its practices.“People have made this into a religious issue, which it never was,” said resident Ilene Garry, whose home is near the mosque’s proposed parking lot. “Nobody is against their religious rights.”
I hope she is right and it's not a religious issue! As the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article makes clear, Lilburn has an interesting history of supporting religious diversity as home to a large Hindu temple which the city has embraced.
Still, whether or not discrimination is at the heart of the refusal, Lilburn has significant legal barriers to cross to deny a church's expansion. The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act requires "a compelling government interest" to do so. Would an increase in traffic qualify?
