A Muslim advocacy group filed a federal lawsuit against a Washtenaw County township on Thursday, alleging local officials are making it impossible to open a mosque.
The lawsuit, filed by the Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), claims Lodi Township has unconstitutional zoning laws and practices that violate the religious rights of Muslims.
Masjid Al-Farook, a nonprofit, filed an application for rezoning to develop an Islamic place of worship on Ellesworth Road in 2021 in Lodi Township near Ann Arbor. In March 2024, the Lodi Township Planning Commission recommended that the Board of Trustees deny the application. Trustees said they have no plan to take any action on the recommendation, leaving the Muslim community with no recourse other than filing a lawsuit challenging the township’s zoning ordinance and master plan, the lawsuit states.
The township has just one zoning district where places of worship are permitted to exist, yet there’s no land within that district to build a place of worship, the lawsuit alleges.
“Lodi Township’s current zoning ordinance makes it impossible for any new place of worship to be developed within the township which is an abject violation of RLUIPA (Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act) and the U.S. Constitution,” CAIR-MI staff attorney Amy Doukoure said in a statement. “Despite being on notice since at least 2021 that their zoning scheme likely violated Masjid Al-Farook’s constitutional and legal rights, the Township has voted to deny their request for rezoning and took no action to review their zoning ordinance until Masjid Al-Farook demanded that they finally take action. Despite the time that has elapsed since the original request for rezoning has been filed, the Township has been unable to rectify their zoning ordinance and bring it in compliance with their obligations under the U.S. Constitution and federal law.”
The lawsuit alleges the township violated RLUIPA and the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
The Muslim community has no place of worship in the township.
Under the township’s master plan, local officials only approved one application for a rezoning of a religious institution, and that was for the expansion of a preexisting Christian church.
“Lodi Township, like the many other municipalities, has taken the route of restricting development and expansions of religious institutions for American Muslims,” CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid said. “After nearly three years of waiting and giving the Township time to fix their zoning scheme, CAIR-MI has no other choice than to assert the Muslim community’s rights through litigation.”
This isn’t the first time CAIR-MI has sued a Michigan community for allegedly thwarting plans to build a mosque. In 2022, the advocacy group settled a similar lawsuit on behalf of Adam Community Center against the city of Troy after the municipality denied variances that would have allowed the development of the first mosque in the city. As part of the settlement, Troy paid undisclosed monetary damages and acknowledged that the property could be used for a place of worship.
In 2o16, the Michigan Islamic Academy in Ann Arbor settled a lawsuit, filed by CAIR-MI, that alleged Pittsfield Township prevented the construction of a 70,000-square-foot Islamic school. The academy was awarded $1.7 million and granted the right to build the school.
