Federal judge reverses ruling on Islamic center

DuPage County board had rejected application for worship facility outside Naperville in 2010

A federal judge on Friday reversed a DuPage County board decision that kept an Islamic worship center from opening just outside Naperville.

The Irshad Learning Center sought to open in a single-family home at 25W030 75th St. that had been previously used as a private school. In 2010, the county board voted 10-7 to deny its application for a conditional use permit after some neighbors complained their property values would go down.

Irshad, which has about 75 members, filed a lawsuit challenging the decision on grounds ranging from religious discrimination to the county’s alleged violations of its own zoning laws. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer found in a 70-page ruling there was no “direct evidence of deliberate discrimination” by the county or its workers, though she noted that a zoning board of appeals member had asked the group’s attorney if animal sacrifices would be held.

But she did find that DuPage County’s “repeated errors, speculation, and refusal to impose conditions” under which the project could be approved led her to conclude that the county had wrongly imposed a “substantial burden” on the group’s application and that its denial was “arbitrary and capricious.”

Mahmood Ghassemi, an Irshad board member, said he was “delighted to hear” of the judge’s ruling and said the group had been renting space in a Woodridge church. The organization began searching for a permanent home in 2003.

“Hopefully this is the end of our struggle in terms of having our own permanent place,” he said.

Attorneys from the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Chicago chapter represented the group but could not be reached Friday afternoon. A spokesman for the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office, which represented the county, said lawyers were reviewing the ruling and had no immediate comment.

The judge found that the record showed some citizens groups had made public remarks to county board members that appeared discriminatory, but board members had testified they did not take the comments into account when voting.

She also ruled that there was no evidence that Irshad, which planned weekly Thursday night services along with special events for weddings or religious holidays, would mar traffic, cause flooding or reduce property values.

Pallmeyer wrote that she anticipates the county board will order a conditional use permit for the property “absent a material change in the circumstances.”

Plans for a mosque near Willowbrook also generated controversy but were approved by DuPage County in 2011 with restrictions on the height of a dome and minaret.

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