The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating a June vote by the St. Anthony City Council denying a proposed Islamic center that supporters had hoped to open in one of the suburb’s light-industrial areas.
The department would not reveal details but said the “formalized” federal investigation followed a preliminary fact-finding stage.
“Our goal continues to be to resolve this dispute to the satisfaction of everyone involved,” spokeswoman Jeanne Cooney said in an email Monday, Oct. 29.
Saying the decision was based strictly on land-use considerations, the city council voted 4-1 on June 12 to deny the Abu Huraira Islamic Center’s application to convert part of an old building in the city’s light industrial zone to a prayer space.
The vote came after some community members in attendance at the meeting made disparaging remarks about Islam.
City staff had recommended the council approve the application.
Charges of bias immediately followed.
The Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said it welcomed the Justice Department’s decision.
“We have been asking for this since June ... we are hoping the federal government will step in and right a wrong the city committed,” said Lori Saroya, the group’s executive director.
In particular, Saroya said, the investigation would look to see whether the council violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act in its decision.
An equal terms clause in the federal law prohibits discriminating between secular and religious assemblies, something Saroya said St. Anthony did when it voted to deny the Islamic center’s permit.
“There is a day care housed in that same building. That is secular assembly, and the city is saying you can’t have a religious assembly in the same building ... that doesn’t make sense,” Saroya said.
Council member Hal Gray said discrimination never took place.
“We have maintained all along this was a land-use issue and has nothing to do with religion. ... A lot of people want to make this something it just isn’t,” Gray said.
What did drive the city’s decision was its limited light-industrial space, which makes up just 5 percent of St. Anthony, Gray said.
“Naturally, we want to keep that light industrial. We don’t want to have churches or golf courses or houses in there,” Gray said. “It’s zoned light industrial so we can have industry and jobs and economic development.”
When asked to explain why a day care makes sense in the zone but not an Islamic center, Gray said the day care facility assists people attending work at light-industrial-related jobs.
A union hall also located in a light-industrial zone also facilitates industry, Gray said.
Charges of bias on the part of council members are off base, he said.
“There were people (at the meeting) who got up and said things that were inappropriate, but that is not our view nor did it influence us in any way,” Gray said. “We have been consistent on this all along.”
He added that the city denied a conditional use permit for a Christian group in fall 2011.
The city’s previous zoning code allowed churches, temples and synagogues only in residential areas but allowed assemblies, meeting lodges and convention halls in both commercial and light-industrial zones.
After the Abu Huraira Islamic Center’s application, the city put a moratorium on development to study its zoning codes and how they fit with the city’s goals for the future.
It now has plans to revise codes to prohibit assembly of any kind in light industrial areas but will allow them in its commercial districts, said City Manager Mark Casey.
Assemblies are not currently defined as appropriate uses in St. Anthony’s commercial zones, Casey said.
“The city council’s decision to deny the permit was made after months of study and careful consideration .... I firmly believe the Department of Justice will find the city treated the Abu Huraira Islamic Center in a manner consistent with other similar applications,” Casey said.
Saroya said her group is hopeful the department will find the council in violation, ultimately leading the city to reverse its decision.
The incident is the fourth time a mosque has been opposed in Minnesota in the past year, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The other three proposals -- for Plymouth, Willmar and Bloomington -- eventually were approved after initial opposition.
The Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is pursuing litigation in the St. Anthony case, Saroya said.