Excerpt:
City planning commissioners unanimously denied a request Thursday to build a proposed mosque, after an official said it would not fit in with surrounding properties.
The 9-0 vote followed a months-long controversy that exposed a rift between civil rights activists and residents concerned about traffic congestion, lowered property values and the appropriateness of a mosque in a neighborhood. Some area Muslims said the complaints masked an anti-Muslim bias.
It was unclear late Thursday whether the developer would alter the proposal to build a 20,500 mosque on residential land in a neighborhood on the north side of 15 Mile Road between Hatherly Place and Davison Drive.