A Muslim school filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Pittsfield Township officials on claims it violated constitutional rights by denying the school’s request to build a new school in the area.
The Pittsfield Township planning commission last year turned down the Michigan Islamic Academy’s zoning request to build near the intersection of Golfside and Ellsworth roads.
The school is in Ann Arbor but, according to the lawsuit, needs a bigger facility and purchased land in the neighboring community for a bigger building.
But officials cited traffic concerns and complaints by local residents that construction would affect their property values.
Local Muslim civil rights officials say the township’s actions of denying the zoning request was nothing more than a ploy to block the school from locating in the area and follows a trend of “Islamaphobia” that some Muslims have experienced across the country and in Michigan.
The township is “using zoning laws to block Islamic schools and centers for no bona fide reason except to block our community from practicing our constitutional rights,” said Dawud Walid, the executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Michigan. Pittsfield Township Supervisor Mandy Grewal has denied the school’s religious affiliation affected the township’s decision.
An official for the Michigan Islamic Academy said township officials initially were receptive to their plans to build.
School board member Tarek Nahlawi said the school conducted and passed two feasibility studies on traffic impact at the location.
Nahlawi said additional lighting and improvements to the school’s grounds were made in an effort to get zoning approval.
“Every time they raised the bar, we actually surpassed them,” said Nahlawi at Wednesday’s news conference.