BRIDGEWATER — A federal judge ruled this week that Bridgewater officials must reconsider plans for a proposed mosque without factoring in a township ordinance that Muslims claimed was used to discriminate against them.
Looking to establish a religious home for its members, the alFalah Center won a court order on Monday to have the Bridgewater Planning Board re-evaluate the mosque proposal that officials dismissed in 2011.
In that review, township officials are now barred from enforcing an ordinance that limited houses of worship to certain major roads and precluded a mosque from the Mountain Top Road location proposed by the center, according to the decision issued by U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp.
“Once the illegal ordinance is removed, which the judge has done, there is no reason why the application should not be approved very quickly,” said Peter Zimroth, one of the attorneys representing the center.
Township Council President Christine Henderson Rose said council members would discuss the judge’s ruling in closed session on Monday and determine how to proceed.
But Rose stressed that the township “welcomes religious diversity,” and argued that officials never said they did not want a mosque in the municipality. Rose said there were more suitable locations for the mosque in the township, claiming there would be better access if it were located on a major road.
There was no religious bias in enacting the ordinance, she said.
“We welcome the mosque, alFalah, in Bridgewater Township,” Rose said. “We would like to have the opportunity to negotiate the location.”
After the center applied to build a mosque at the former Redwood Inn site, the project faced “anti-Muslim prejudice within the community, including Internet postings and e-mail correspondence,” the decision states. In one instance, center members were accused of being terrorists, the decision states.
Two hours before a Jan. 24, 2011 public meeting to discuss the application, some township officials met privately and “developed a plan for a report to be drafted recommending a new condition on houses of worship that would undermine Al Falah’s pending application,” the decision states. Although the group is known as alFalah, the court decision spelled it as Al Falah.
In the public meeting, the planning board authorized the township planner to develop a report dealing with houses of worship, the decision states.
Within the next two days, the planner allegedly produced findings “that houses of worship in residential zones could potentially cause traffic issues,” the decision states. The center alleged that other township officials said the project would not cause traffic problems, the decision states.
Based on the planner’s report, the Township Council in March 2011 adopted an ordinance that limited certain uses, including houses of worship, country clubs and schools, to certain major roads. The planning board then dismissed the application the next month because the ordinance required the center to seek a use variance from the township's zoning board.
In its lawsuit against the township, the center alleged that township officials discriminated against the group on a religious basis, but the municipality claimed there was no evidence of religious discrimination, the decision states.
Municipal officials argued that the purpose of the ordinance was to “preserve the residential character of its various neighborhoods,” the decision states.
But Shipp said the timing of the center’s application and the ordinance undermines the township’s “claim that the Ordinance was in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest,” and the judge found that the center had suffered “irreparable harm,” the decision states.
Without a permanent spiritual home, the center has been impeded in its growth and capacity to raise money, and it has been unable to attract a permanent spiritual leader, the decision states.
“These combined factors, among others, have rendered it nearly impossible for Al Falah and its individual members to adhere to the tenets of their religion,” the decision states.
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