The Chicago suburb of Des Plaines settled a lawsuit to the tune of $580,000 after denying a Muslim organization the opportunity to convert a vacant building into a mosque.
The Department of Justice announced the ruling on Tuesday after Des Plaines settled with the agency as well as The Society of American Bosnians and Herzegovinians.
“Religious freedom is a fundamental right, and we will not tolerate the unlawful use of zoning or land use restrictions to infringe on that right,” said Joel R. Levin, Acting United States Attorney of the Northern District of Illinois, in a statement.
The lawsuits came about after a 2013 vote by the Des Plaines City Council denied the Bosnian Muslim congregation permission to transform an empty property into a house of worship.
In its complaint, the Department of Justice alleged that the city had a history of treating ‘non-Muslim groups better,’ and seemed to be using zoning restrictions and other local ordinances to prevent the Society from moving forward with its plans.
Some aldermen on the Des Plaines City Council had argued against the construction of the mosque in what was largely an industrial area, saying pedestrians could be endangered by the presence of heavy machinery.
Despite recommendations from the city’s planning commission, the city council refused to show any leniency in rezoning to accommodate a house of worship.
“I don’t care if they’re Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, whatever. It’s not zoned for that particular area,” Alderman Mark Walsten told the Chicago Tribune in 2013. “Whenever there are children involved in an industrial area, I will not have that on my conscience.”
As part of the settlement’s terms, Des Plaines’ officials will be required to undergo training to ensure they understand the provisions of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000.
The City of Des Plaines will also post a pledge to comply with RLUIPA on its webpage for 180 days.
Peter Friedman, general counsel for the city, said, “The city has a great deal of respect for the mosque and their members, a great deal of respect for the Department of Justice and is happy that all parties agreed that it was time to resolve.”
He also stressed that, “The city has never before been accused of a RLUIPA and it doesn’t intend to ever again have to go through this.”
The Imam of the Society of American Bosnians and Herzegovinians, Senad Agic, said the $580,000 settlement would be applied towards renovating a former Lutheran church the congregation purchased in Franklin Park before the verdict had been finalized.
Agic pointed out that the Society of American Bosnians and Herzegovinians had formerly gone by another name – the American Islamic Society.
The group decided to change its name to reassure other neighborhood inhabitants that the largely Bosnian congregation didn’t pose a threat to local communities.
Agic said the change came “in order to make them feel good about us.”
“We are open-minded and we practice European culture and we are normal people,” he said.
The settlement comes a week after Bernards Township in New Jersey was ordered to pay $3.25 million to another Muslim organization which was also denied permission to construct a mosque on grounds of zoning restrictions.
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