Morton Grove, IL

With two schools and two mosques, the Muslim Community Center (MCC) is one of the largest and oldest Muslim organizations in the Chicago metro area. In December 2019 it celebrated its 50th anniversary. The controversy over the expansion project for its Muslim Education Center (MEC), K-8 school, dates to November 2002 when MCC submitted a site plan to add a mosque and increased classroom space on its 4.5-acre property in the Village of Morton Grove. The proposal met with vocal resistance from neighbors who raised concerns over traffic, parking, and noise. However, expressions of anti-Muslim sentiment and an incident of vandalism also occurred. The village denied MCC’s petition after six months and hours of testimony before various commissions and boards. The legal dispute that followed involved complaints against the city and MCC by a neighborhood opposition group as well as MCC’s RLUIPA case against the village. The RLUIPA case was resolved in June 2003 when a settlement mediated by the Department of Justice’s Community Relations Services allowed MCC to receive a special use permit subject. Although the SUP was subject to more than 30 restrictions and despite ongoing public and legal campaigns, MCC held its first communal prayer in the new mosque in late August 2008.

MCC’ submission of expansion plans in Morton Grove came after multiple months of debate on traffic and parking. Neighbors had complained before the villages Traffic and Safety Commission (TSC) about street parking during MCC events, particularly during communal Friday prayers and Ramadan gatherings. While initially MCC had used its gym to hold prayer services for students and staff, it later began opening its doors to members of the local Muslim community for congregational Friday prayers. Discussions before TSC were attended by about 150 residents who urged the village to curb street parking by visitors during MEC events. An agreement reached with neighbors included restrictions on street parking. MCC further promised to address off-street parking in an expansion plan it was in the process of submitting (“Muslim Center Parking Pact Nears Finish,” 2002, October 10).

The site plan MCC submitted with its special use application in November 2002 included classroom additions to the existing school building as well as a mosque for around 600 worshippers. Initial design plans for the mosque also showed a 45-ft dome and a 60-ft minaret. Parking issues were addressed by raising the number of off-street parking spaces from 70 to 144. During discussions before the village’s Appearance Commission and the Traffic and Safety Commission opponents rehashed concerns about parking from previous months (“Panel Reviews Mosque Traffic,” 2002, December 12). A revised plan that raised off-street parking to 210 spaces was discussed first before the Plan Commission on February 19, 2003. Over the next three months the Plan Commission and the Village Board heard more than 13 hours of testimony. Ultimately, the Village Board voted in late April to follow the Plan Commission’s unanimous recommendation for denial (“Morton Grove Rejects Plan for Mosque,” May 1, 2003).

Concerns over traffic, parking, and noise remained central in the public debate over MCC’s expansion project, but opponents’ campaigns were also colored by expressions of anti-Muslim sentiment and an incident of vandalism. “There’s a lot of underlying agendas and hidden agendas here,” Village Administrator Larry Arft had commented during the earlier parking controversy (“Village Denies Charge of MCC Area Parking,” 2002, November 14). One Patrick Kansoer emerged as a central figure in the neighborhood opposition. After the Village Board had denied MCC’s application in April 2003, Kansoer requested the village stop all general worship at the school alleging that MCC was violating village ordinances by operating a house of worship without a special use permit. Later the same year Kansoer and other residents formed the Morton Grove Organization (MGO) that filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the village for failing to enforce its zoning ordinance. The group later amended their lawsuit to include a charge of “conspiracy” against the village (“Resident Group Files Revised Suit,” 2004, February 19). In what could count as outright displays of anti-Muslim bigotry or, at best, grave insensitivity, MGO members staged several public events as their lawsuit made its way through the court system. In one such case, the group protested the discussion over a settlement agreement between the village and MCC by displaying pigs on MGO members’ lawns (Katz, 2004, June 17; also see Routliffe, 2003, September 25).

In late September 2003, MCC filed a federal lawsuit in which it asked for $5 million in damages from the village. Among others, the lawsuit alleged that the village had violated RLUIPA’s equal terms and unreasonable limitations provisions (Falsani, 2003, October 1). The Department of Justice responded to the lawsuit by opening a formal investigation. At the same time, mediators from the DOJ’s Community Relations Service began facilitating face-to-face meetings between the village, MCC and neighbors (”Village, MCC Begin Talks,” 2004, January 1). Although MGO had left the mediation proceedings by April, the village and MCC announced in early June that they had reached a settlement. 

As a result of the settlement MCC brought a revised SUP application before the village. It included a reduced maximum occupancy of 525 worshipers and off-street parking for 244 vehicles. Over the next six months, the application made it through the village’s regular hearing process until, on November 22, 2004, the Village Board finally approved the Special Use Permit. The approval, however, came with more than 30 restrictions including a reduction in the height of both the dome and the minaret, a 10 p.m. curfew on non-religious use, and no high-school classes (Katz, 2004, December 30). A dispute over a right-of-way MCC sought for additional off-street parking was only temporarily resolved and resulted in further court proceedings later on (Katz, 2008, January 24). Part of the agreement over the special use permit required MCC to suspend all non-school related events at its site during construction. After renting space in public buildings for Friday services and Ramadan events for more than two years, MCC held the first congregational prayer service in its new mosque on August 31, 2008.