A lawyer representing a Muslim group denied rezoning for a mosque by the Henrico County Board of Supervisors says the action represents religious discrimination.
The suit filed in Henrico Circuit Court says the board's refusal to rezone 3.6 acres at Impala Place and Impala Drive was "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable."
The complaint doesn't mention religious discrimination, but attorney Henry L. Marsh III said he plans to bring up that argument in a federal suit.
The Henrico suit against the board seeks a permanent injunction that would keep the supervisors from interfering with use of the property for a house of worship, and it seeks damages and attorney fees.
County Attorney Joseph P. Rapisarda Jr. said he had not yet been served with the complaint, filed earlier this month, and could not comment.
Marsh, a state senator and civil-rights lawyer, said in a news release that the board's action "also violated plaintiff's federally protected right to assemble, in that it imposes a substantial burden on the Muslim group, which is not imposed upon Christian religious groups."
The supervisors denied the rezoning request by a 3-2 vote on Nov. 12. Since then, several county residents and groups, including the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond and at least three Christian congregations, have written letters asking county leaders to reconsider their decision.
Eleven investors from the Muslim community purchased the 5.2-acre site in January and sought to rezone it from an office district, where religious facilities are not allowed in Henrico, to residential use. They proposed a one-story, domed, 10,500-square-foot mosque and community center on part of the land.
The suit notes that the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission have had four requests to build houses of worship since the county's land-use plan was adopted in 1995. Exceptions were made for Faith Landmark Ministries, First Mennonite Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia but not for the Muslim group, it states. The complaint also says a previous owner rezoned the site from residential to office use in 1984, but it has remained undeveloped.
Board Chairman David A. Kaechele, who voted with supervisors Richard W. Glover and James B. Donati Jr. to deny the rezoning, said the decision was based on the county's land-use and zoning guidelines. Supervisors Patricia S. O'Bannon and Frank J. Thornton voted in favor of the rezoning.
Kaechele said the county manager and the planning director were working to help the group find other available properties in Henrico that would be more appropriate for religious worship, regardless of a potential lawsuit.
"We knew they had the right to file," Kaechele said. "It's unfortunate, but that's their option."
Contact Melodie N. Martin at (804) 649-6290 or mmartin@timesdispatch.com.
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