Mosque vote angers Muslims

After learning that the Muslim community's pleas for a mosque in Henrico County were refused, Naveed Malik called each supervisor who voted against it "to give them an earful."

A Henrico resident and a Muslim, he goes to a makeshift mosque in a hotel conference room each Friday to pray rather than make the half-hour drive to the Islamic Center of Virginia in Chesterfield County.

"This is tremendously disturbing to me. It's a place of worship," Malik said. "When the next election comes, I'll make sure what resources I have will defeat those who voted against it."

Like Malik, other members of Henrico's Muslim community say they are disappointed by the Board of Supervisors' 3-2 vote Wednesday against allowing a one-story, domed, 10,500-square-foot mosque and community center to be built on 3.6 acres on Impala Drive in the Dumbarton area.

The supervisors who voted against a rezoning for the project said it conflicted with the county's land-use plan for the area.

"I don't believe the county is saying no to a mosque in the county," said Imad Damaj, president of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs. "But I think they missed an opportunity of saying, 'Yes, we can be inclusive. Yes, we can work with you,' and go beyond splitting hairs of issues of zoning."

Mike Surani, a representative of the group of 11 investors from the Muslim community that owns the site, took a more critical view.

"We think the decision was blatantly racist and discriminatory," Surani said.

Surani said the group plans to file a complaint against the zoning decision in Henrico Circuit Court and pursue a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on the grounds of discrimination on violation of their First Amendment rights.

Just after voting with supervisors Richard W. Glover and James B. Donati Jr. to deny the rezoning from office to residential use, Board of Supervisors Chairman David A. Kaechele told the audience that the decision was based on technical issues. In addition to concerns about the land-use plan, county officials cited the existence of a stream and wetlands in the area.

"Mr. Glover and all of us agree we would like you to find a home in Henrico County and I can assure you that the planning staff would be glad to assist in that regard. . . . Discrimination is far from our thoughts and we wish you the best to find this home," Kaechele said.

Supervisors Patricia S. O'Bannon and Frank J. Thornton voted in favor of the rezoning.

The group purchased the site at an auction in January and was under the impression it could be easily rezoned for a mosque, Surani said.

John Mizell Jr., an attorney representing the group, cited examples from recent years when the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors made exceptions to the county land-use plan for Mennonite and Episcopal churches. He added that the site has remained vacant since 1984, when a previous owner rezoned it from residential to office use.

"I think this is a relatively modest deviation from the land-use plan and I ask for consistency," Mizell said yesterday.

Of an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 Muslims in the greater Richmond area, between 4,000 and 5,000 live in Henrico County, Damaj said.
Contact Melodie N. Martin at (804) 649-6290 or .