蓝莓视频

The town of Oyster Bay, New York, has settled a mosque's claims that the town amended its parking laws in a targeted attempt to thwart redevelopment efforts, agreeing to oversee the quick approval of the mosque's application and to amend the underlying parking ordinance.

The Long Island town and religious nonprofit Muslims on Long Island, which owns and operates the Masjid Al-Baqi mosque, inked a settlement on Tuesday under which Oyster Bay's board agreed to approve the land-use application for a three-story building to replace the mosque's existing two smaller facilities within 10 days.

The town has also agreed to expedite any other necessary permits; aid MOLI with approvals it may need from the state, county and other entities; and ensure the facility is built "as quickly as is reasonably possible."

"The key, core relief we sought was for the town to approve the mosque ASAP as submitted without any structural changes, without making it a smaller building," MOLI counsel and Linklaters LLP partner Diana Conner said, "clearing the path for this all to move forward, which is what our clients wanted years ago."

Oyster Bay also agreed to repeal a change it made to parking laws in the midst of weighing MOLI's land-use application. The change drastically increased the number of parking spots required at the mosque and at other religious institutions but did not apply to secular institutions such as theaters, MOLI said.

When the change was made in 2022, the mosque found itself unable to accommodate this requirement in plans for its new facility and sought a parking variance from the town's planning advisory board. Under the settlement, the town will revert parking requirements for religious institutions to pre-2022 standards and agreed to provide exemptions for any provision that substantially burdens religious exercise.

The Masjid Al-Baqi operator filed its Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act case against the town in January, after the planning board rejected its land-use application in a December decision that pointed to concerns about traffic, parking and neighborhood character.

The decision cited only one neighbor's testimony explicitly, that of a grandmother who struggled to navigate residential streets while dropping off her grandchildren at a day care due to overflow parking from the mosque.

In a May response to discovery requests, the town acknowledged this account was actually an "amalgam of testimony and written submissions." The town pointed to testimony from a resident who said the intersection near the mosque was a traffic hazard, as well as a couple who testified the new facility would impede emergency responders and assisted living areas in the vicinity.

"The grandmother was made up … she was a fictitious character," MOLI counsel Peter Vogel, also of Linklaters, said on Wednesday. "The town had to resort to, in our opinion, fabricating evidence because they didn't have any real evidence to cite to justify the denial."

Linklaters counsel added that concerns about traffic, parking and neighborhood character can be coded language often wielded by land-use authorities to disguise discriminatory intent.

Some residents who testified against the application were explicitly opposed to the development because it was connected to a mosque, they said, adding that the denial couched its response to those concerns in the seemingly neutral language of land-use laws.

"Our clients are being told things like: 'We don't want the mosque here, you guys will bring the Muslim Brotherhood and Sharia law with you,'" Vogel said. "Our case demonstrates that a lot of what is being presented as land-use principles is, in fact, discrimination masquerading as neutral land-use principles."

The town has also agreed to pay MOLI $3.9 million to cover attorney fees and costs it incurred. The mosque committed to traffic safety mitigation measures as part of the settlement.

"This agreement resolves outstanding planning concerns and allows us to move forward in good faith as one community," town supervisor Joseph Saladino said in a statement. "The Town of Oyster Bay has and always will respect the rights of all faith communities."

MOLI is represented by Muhammad U. Faridi, Diana M. Conner, Julia H. Long, Peter Vogel and Kailyn E. LaPorte of Linklaters LLP.

Oyster Bay is represented by Edward M. Ross and Judah Serfaty of Rosenberg Calica Birney Liebman & Ross LLP.

The case is Muslims on Long Island et al. v. The Town of Oyster Bay et al., case number 2:25-cv-00428, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

--Editing by Philip Shea.