Meriden, CT

In March 2019, the Meriden Planning Commission denied the Omar Islamic Center's request to establish a mosque and community center at 999 Research Parkway due to zoning mismatches. This decision sparked a legal battle alleging religious discrimination under RLUIPA and CRFA. In addition to a private lawsuit against the city by the Omar Islamic Center, the DOJ investigated and filed suit against Meriden, leading to a settlement involving zoning policy changes and training. Despite the commission eventually approving the mosque, the property owner withdrew their offer, and the center now operates from a smaller space in Middletown.

Hilary Barkey, Aidan Chung, Pierce McDade, and Jacqueline Thrailkill

2019

The Omar Islamic Center sought to convert a property that once housed a fiber optics equipment manufacturing company into a mosque and Islamic center. The property—vacant for more than a decade--was located on a 3.65-acre site featuring a two-story, 31,000 sq. ft. building and a 110-space parking lot.

The project was initially denied but subsequently approved after the OIC's legal challenge. However, the property owner withdrew the offer to donate the building to the OIC, so the project did not move forward.

In March 2019, the Meriden Planning Commission unanimously denied the Omar Islamic Center’s special permit request to move to the first floor of 999 Research Parkway, a building that had sat vacant for seventeen years. The Omar Islamic Center, started in 2018 by Muslims who live and work in Meriden and nearby towns, sought the building to establish their first permanent place of worship (United States Department of Justice [DOJ], 2020, Nov 5). Additionally, the site would provide office space for the community, with professionals renting the building’s second-floor offices (Meriden Planning Commission Minutes, 2019, Feb 13). Initially, the Planning Commission held a public hearing on the case, where community members voiced their support and opposition to the proposal. Community and commission members stated that the center would bring unwanted truck traffic and property tax changes (Meriden Planning Commission, 2019, Feb 13). During the following meeting, the application was rejected. The Planning Commission cited that the mosque did not match the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) designation of the zone for industrial, office, and commercial spaces as their reasoning for denying the mosque (ibid.).

The Commission was primarily concerned with the zoning purpose of the site, as they had previously rejected plans for a school at the same location (Mosque situation awaits resolution, 2020, Nov 12). However, these zoning practices and permit rejection were challenged in court. In April 2019, the Omar Islamic Center filed suit against the city, alleging that the commission violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) and Connecticut Religious Freedom Act (CRFA) (Omar Islamic Center, Inc v. Meriden et al., 2019). In the suit, the Omar Islamic Center alleged that the “[City of Meriden] violated [the Center’s] constitutional rights by prohibiting it from operating a mosque on a property located in Meriden, Connecticut.” Additionally, the lawsuit charged the commission as having "created a reason for denial that no place of worship could surmount" (Mosque situation awaits resolution, 2020, Nov 12). In response to this controversy, the Meriden City Council held a special virtual meeting, where they authorized $45,000 to be used in a settlement with the Omar Islamic Center as well as urged the planning commission to reverse their decision and approve the center’s special permit application (City of Meriden, 2020, June 18). At a special meeting later that week, the planning commission unanimously approved the Omar Islamic Center’s request to turn the first floor of 999 Research Parkway into a mosque (Meriden Planning Commission, 2020, Jun 23).

The controversy drew the attention of the Department of Justice’s Religious Liberty Task Force, which launched an investigation in July 2019. In November 2020, the DOJ filed suit against the City of Meriden, alleging their rejection of the mosque and zoning code violated the RLUIPA (Collins, 2020, Nov 5). In the suit, the federal government claimed, “the Defendants’ actions in denying the Center’s application for a special exception permit imposed an unjustified substantial burden on the Center’s exercise of religion” (DOJ, 2020, Nov 5). On the same day that the Justice Department filed suit, city and federal officials came to an agreement in which the suit was dropped in exchange for the modification of the city's zoning policies as well as mandatory RLUIPA training for city officials (Vondracek, 2020, Nov 6).

Though the planning commission approved the mosque, and the city council offered a $45,000 settlement in 2020, the case was not settled that year. The Omar Islamic Center leased a small space in neighboring Middletown, Connecticut, at 24 Broad Street as the controversy continued. Additionally, while the suit was being decided, the building owner decided not to donate the property to the center (United States District Court of Connecticut, Sept 30). Because “[t]he donation of the [999 Research Parkway] Property [was] contingent on the Center obtaining the appropriate zoning approvals” (DOJ, 2020, Nov5), it may be assumed that the zoning controversy contributed to the owner’s decision to revoke their offer to donate the site. The Omar Islamic Center’s lawsuit continued its way through the court system. In September of 2022, the court issued an opinion that the zoning regulations of Meriden violated the Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clauses and that the Center was entitled to damages, including the costs of leasing and renovating their alternate location. However, the court also ruled in favor of the city on claims made under the CRFA because “the construction of a house of worship does not constitute religious exercise” under the act  (Seeman 2023, Jan 6). The Omar Islamic Center was never moved to 999 Research Parkway. Instead, the mosque remains located at 24 Broad Street, Middletown, CT, a small building poorly suited to the community’s spacial, parking, and location needs.

References

• City of Meriden. (2020, June 18). City Council Virtual Special Meeting Minutes. Retrieved from https://meridencityct.documents-on-demand.com/Document/63d87fff-81bc-ea11-a300-000c29a59557/cit-min-06182020.pdf. 
• Collins, D. (2020, November 5). Feds, Connecticut city settle over rejection of mosque plans. Associated Press. Available at https://apnews.com/article/connecticut-john-durham-meriden-8d8e973de690a9df0f0f6460a1e12d85.
• Meridian Planning Commission. (2020, June 23). June 23, 2020 Special Meeting Minutes. Retrieved from https://meridencityct.documents-on-demand.com/Document/0af6dd6c-deb7-ea11-a2fe-000c29a59557/pc-min-06232020%20Draft.pdf.
• Meriden Planning Commission. (2019, February 13). February 13, 2019 Meeting Minutes. Retrieved from https://meridencityct.documents-on-demand.com/Document/51c1ba15-c936-e911-a2c9-000c29a59557/pc-min-02132019%20(Draft).pdf.
• Mosque situation awaits resolution. (2020, November 12). Record-Journal. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.proxy.library.emory.edu/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB4F3D1A01B2A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F17EBABC5E07A4520.
• Omar Islamic Center, Inc v. Meriden et al. (C.T. District Court, 2019). https://dockets.justia.com/docket/connecticut/ctdce/3:2019cv00488/132359.
• Seeman, Evan. (2023, January 6). Court Rules Meriden, CT’s Zoning Regulations Discriminatory. National Law Review. Available at https://www.natlawreview.com/article/court-rules-meriden-ct-s-zoning-regulations-discriminatory.
• United States Department of Justice. (2020, November 5). Justice Department settles claims against City of Meriden, Connecticut, involving denial of mosque. [Press Release]. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-settles-claims-against-city-meriden-connecticut-involving-denial-mosque.
• Vondracek, C. (2020, November 6). Meriden, Connecticut, Justice Department reach mosque agreement. Washington Times. https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/nov/6/meriden-connecticut-justice-department-reach-mosqu/.