The City Council took a step toward reversing its decision to deny a Muslim applicant from using space in a retail center as a mosque at its Wednesday meeting.
Mayor Mark Mathews said the City Council would reconsider the 4-1 vote it made on December 1 to deny the mosque in the retail center on Jiles Road at its next meeting on Monday.
Mathews said all four council members who voted to deny the mosque asked the mayor to change their previous vote Wednesday night in private.
“Council members (Leonard) Church, (Tim) Killingsworth, (Jim) Sebastian and (Debra) Williams have independently approached me in my office … and requested to change their vote,” Mathews said Wednesday.
If the City Council on Monday opts to change its December 1 vote, the mosque’s application will be approved, Mathews said.
Kamaral Hosein, a Kennesaw resident, stood shaking people’s hands and grinning outside after the announcement.
“I am happy that justice was served, and what I mean by that is that I’m just happy to see that people have reconsidered their view of us,” Hosein said.
Amjad Taufique, a representative of the mosque, said he hopes the decision will end the battle for the prayer center.
“We hope that this will end the issue of us being outsiders. I believe this is really exciting news for us, and we hope that we can meet and talk with our neighbors,” Taufique said.
The applicant, Mufti Islam, said he wants to make sure the mosque will be able to operate under the terms that it applied, something he will address at the Monday meeting.
“We want to know — under what conditions?” Islam asked before the announcement was made.
In response, Mathews answered: “no stipulations.”
Mathews said the council is trying to achieve a mission for Kennesaw to be “an inclusive city with opportunities for all.”
“It’s been a very sensitive issue for everyone. Obviously we all believe Kennesaw is a fantastic place to live, to work, to play, to worship, and we want to be inclusive of all of them,” Mathews said.
Doug Dillard, the applicant’s attorney, previously warned the council that the applicant would take legal action against the city if his request was denied in a letter titled “Notice of Constitutional Challenge.”
Dillard threatened to file a $1 million claim invoking the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law that protects religious institutions from discriminatory zoning laws, in Cobb Superior Court, according to a letter included in the application presented to the council at its Dec. 1 meeting.
Mathews said Wednesday the applicant had not filed a lawsuit against the city yet.
“I am not aware of any filing as of yet. All we have is what was provided with the application, which was the ‘Notice of Constitutional Challenge,’” Mathews said.
Wednesday’s meeting began with a quick run through of other city business. Then Mathews announced the council would not discuss the mosque in public. The decision to change the vote was announced after an executive session not open to the public that lasted a little more than one hour.
Mathews spoke for all the council members after the closed executive session.
Mathews said the council had to discuss the issue in private because the city had been threatened with a lawsuit.
“Because of the threat of litigation and because of legal reasons we’re going to be discussing those in executive session,” Mathews said before the council went into executive session.
Kennesaw resident Ali Babar said he didn’t think the issue needed to be debated because it is a protected right to practice one’s religion. He didn’t like the secrecy of the conversation.
“They can get away with saying things they can’t say out here,” Babar said while waiting for the council to return. “They can refer to (Muslims) by other names.”
Rick Gaswint, a Kennesaw resident who supports the mosque, said he didn’t mind the debate, he just hoped for a reversal of the council’s vote to deny the mosque.
The crowd of about 20 people at Wednesday’s meeting was calmer than the more vocal crowds at past meetings, Gaswint said.
“The respect (the Muslims) have shown at these meetings compared to the anti-crowd is phenomenal,” Gaswint said. “I’ve heard more violent statements and posts by the people in opposition of the mosque than those in favor of it.”
While waiting for the council’s decision, other residents debated the merits of the application Islam submitted to ask that a retail center space be used as a Muslim prayer center.
The application stated there were no other mosques within 20 miles of the retail center on Jiles Road, yet there is a mosque within 9 miles of the center. At the Dec. 1 meeting, Dillard was asked by the council to apologize for the inaccurate claim.
Dillard did.
“We relied on the best information available and the best information came to show that we were wrong, so we apologize for misleading the council, we certainly don’t want to do that,” Dillard said at that meeting.
Gib Connor, a Kennesaw resident, said the fact that Islam “lied” made him feel uncomfortable about the application.
“They perjured themselves. There needs to be sanctions for lying. That was not a mistake. They had a high-paid attorney. That was not a mistake,” Connor said.
Yet Gaswint said he didn’t think the inaccurate claim was something that should be used as an argument against the mosque.
“There’s been a big issue about how close the nearest mosque is — whether it’s 20 miles away or 10 miles away. Why does that matter? I’d like you to drive two miles and not find another church,” Gaswint said.
The council voted unanimously in July to allow a Pentecostal church in a retail center when the council approved Redeemed Christian Fellowship Church to use a 4,000 square-foot unit in a center on the corner of Ben King Road and Cherokee Street.
David Haspel, a Kennesaw resident whose wife, Ashley, owns Lockett Color Salon inside the Jiles Road retail center, said he thinks the mosque will hurt their business if the two have to share a parking lot.
“I’d like to see a retail center stay a retail center,” Haspel said.
Haspel said he’s concerned there won’t be enough parking places for the salon’s customers during the frequent prayer times at the mosque.
The application, submitted by Suffa Dawat Center at Kennesaw, states the facility will be used for five daily prayers lasting 10 to 15 minutes, and one 40 to 45 minute weekly prayer service on Fridays, which could see 60 to 80 people.
Gaswint said the concerns of many residents aren’t based on the facts, but on a fear that he can’t understand.
“They’re every bit as American as I am, but because they have a religion that has been hijacked by extremists and skewed by the media, they’re not allowed to practice their religion like everyone else? I don’t understand that,” Gaswint said.