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Thursday, Sep. 23, 2010Comments (19)
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ACLU asks Mayfield to reconsider mosque rejection
The Associated Press MAYFIELD, Ky. -- The American Civil Liberties Union is asking Mayfield's zoning board to reconsider its rejection of a Somali man's request for a permit to build a mosque in the western Kentucky city.
In rejecting the permit on Aug. 24, the board cited concerns about fire safety and building capacity and parking. The ACLU responded with a letter Wednesday that said the rejection was based on false assumptions and violated constitutional and statutory protections for freedom of religion, The Courier-Journal of Louisville reported.
It also said the board approved two similar permits for churches in the same zoning district in central Mayfield.
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The ACLU said the applicant, Khadar Ahmed, prefers to resolve the issue outside of court but reserves the right to a court appeal. Ahmed is among about 150 Somalis who have moved to the Mayfield area recently to work in a chicken plant.
The city zoning board initially voted on Aug. 10 to approve Ahmed's application for a conditional use permit for the mosque. The meeting minutes cite the city attorney's opinion that "there is no legal way the request can be refused."
But the board wrote to Ahmed later that day that it was reconsidering its approval because some people didn't get a chance to speak at the meeting.
On Aug. 24, one or more mosque proponents were among those turned away from the door when an overflow crowd attended. When the board realized the representative was mistakenly turned away, officials later searched for a mosque representative outside but could not find him, according to the minutes.
The board then rejected the proposal even though it recognized it had failed to allow the proponent of the mosque to speak at the hearing, where an overflow crowd applauded the vote to reject the permit, the ACLU wrote.
"The board made the right decision when it originally granted the permit," said Michael Aldridge, ACLU of Kentucky executive director, in a statement. "It is troubling that it reversed course when there were no changes in circumstances."
In rejecting the permit, the board cited concerns about fire safety and building capacity, which was limited to 40 people, and the presence of only six parking spaces. But the ACLU said if the board had heard from the proponent, it would have learned that few of the community's 150 Somalis have cars, most would walk to the mosque, and the board had no grounds for rejecting a proposal on the assumption that a building's crowd capacity would be violated.
The ACLU also said the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 forbids denials of houses of worship short of a "compelling governmental interest."
The organization said public comments at the meeting about potential parking problems were "overblown" to "mask their real objections." It mentioned that a nearby business owner claimed at the Aug. 24 hearing his concern was strictly about parking but described to the media his and his customers' discomfort with the Somalis.
City Planner Brad Rodgers, who advises the zoning board, referred a request for comment to Mayfield City Attorney Boyd Neely, who did not immediately return calls.
Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/09/23/1447080/aclu-asks-mayfield-to-reconsider.html#ixzz10Pess68o
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