NORWALK, Conn. – With all the noise surrounding the announcement of a proposed mosque settlement, some of the details are either being missed, distorted or misstated.
The existing building remains and is counted as part of the 23.88 percent lot coverage. Zoning regulations permit 25 percent lot coverage.
What is being referred to as a parking deck is actually part of the accessory building. It’s not a parking garage like the one next to the Maritime Aquarium.
The first-floor parking deck features 16 at grade parking spaces and 10 valet parking spaces, in place of indoor usable space of the accessory building. That contributes to the 47 percent reduction in floor area in the accessory building.
Mosque settlement first floor architectural rendering
The building sits in the center of the lot and will be surrounded by trees – more trees than called for in the original plan. That not only screens the view of the mosque but is intended to act as a sound buffer.
The plans call for 22 white pine trees, nine more than originally called for. The new plan calls for 107 Green Giant Arborvitae, described by QuickTrees.com as “the most desired fast growing evergreen creening tree in the country.” The original plan called for 100. The desirable evergreens would be bigger under the new plan, as the original plan was for 6-7-inch caliper but the new plan is for 9-10-inch caliper.
There’s a corresponding decline in ground cover plants. The original plan called for 168 Sargent’s Groundcover Juniper and the new plan calls for 78.
There are more pachysandra, an evergreen perennial that is part of the boxwood family, than originally planned. There were 350 bulbs planned and there are now 500 planned.
Twelve of the quicky evergreens are going along the road. The rest ring the property’s back. All of the white pines are planned to be along the road, in front of the mosque.
Mosque meets zoning regulations
Despite claims from some commenters, the mosque meets the zoning regulations.
This was repeated over and over again during the 2012 public hearings by Attorney John Fallon, who represented the mosque. The issue, commissioners said, was that a special permit was needed. That allows for a subjective interpretation of an application.
A false traffic study?
Republican Town Committee Chairman Pete Torrano said in a Tuesday letter to the editor that Al Madany “conspired to falsify the traffic study that they offered to the Zoning Commission in support of their initial application.”
A source said members of the mosque were told that there would be a traffic study and that they should car pool while it was being done.
Attorney Chris Bouchoux of WilmerHale, who represents Al Madany, said Tueday night, “Al Madany accurately stated to the Zoning Commission that the anticipated number of cars arriving and departing from the proposed mosque site during peak hours would not significantly degrade the level of service for the surrounding roadways.”
Cities have paid a heavy price
There have been several RLUIPA cases in Norwalk’s back yard – New York’s Westchester and Rockland counties – and a LoHud story from May describes the financial expenses incurred by municipalities:
• $6.5 million: cost of Greenburgh’s 2013 settlement
• $4.75 million: cost of Mamaroneck’s 2008 settlement
• $450,000 in legal fees and $10,000 civil penalty: Cost of Airmont‘s case
• $1.5 million: Pomona’s legal fees in ongoing case
• $200,000: Suffern’s legal fees from 2010 settlement
The story quotes attorney Nicholas Ward-Willis, who represented Fortress Bible Church in its case against the town of Greenburg, as saying that Greenburg did everything wrong. That included the supervisor – akin to Norwalk’s mayor – instructing the town’s attorney to find ways to deny the application.
The resolution that the Norwalk Zoning Commission voted on during its June 6, 2012, public hearing was not the one the commission drafted in its committee meeting prior to the hearing. It was submitted to the commission minutes before the hearing began by Corporation Counsel Robert Maslan. Then-Zoning Commission member Mike Mushak said during the hearing that he was voting against the resolution because it wasn’t the one the committee had reviewed.
RLUIPA is constitutional – or not, depending on the lawyer
A lot has been made about the potential costs of continuing to fight this in court, with the possibility of losing. Attorney Marci Hamilton, nationally recognized Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) expert, called the proposed settlement “remarkable” last week.
“For me to say that, you should say ‘wow’, she said.
Hamilton said RLUIPA is unconstitutional, which was part of the reason she lauded Norwalk in what she called a landmark settlement – the city did not cave, she said.
But Daniel Dalton, a Michigan lawyer who represents religious entities throughout the United States in land use and zoning matters, disagrees about the constitutionality of RLUIPA.
Dalton published an article last summer about RLUIPA. “In the 13 years that RLUIPA has been in effect, federal courts have come to the general consensus that the Act is constitutional. From there, however, courts have been more varied in interpreting and applying the specific principles contained in RLUIPA’s land use provisions. Since RLUIPA litigation is a relatively new area, the body of case law interpreting the Act is constantly developing and changing.”
Could the entire situation have been prevented?
Some people say that the furor over the application could have been avoided if the zoning regulations were changed before it was submitted. Mushak referred, in a February comment left on this website, to “obsolete zoning regulations that allowed the mosque to be built at that original size in the first place.”
Asked about that, former Zoning Commission Chairwoman Jackie Lightfield said, “The zoning regs do need to be modernized and, yes, if Norwalk has addressed this awhile back it would have had greater design control of what was allowed.”
Lightfield said, in a February comment left on this website, “Changing zoning regulations is hard work. As chair of zoning I found it difficult to balance the time needs between review of significant applications, developing the aquifer protection agency and tackling regulations that sorely needed work. In the end, I view the best way to tackle our zoning regulations is to rewrite them in whole, rather than in parts.”
Zoning Commissioner Adam Blank said, after his reappointment was confirmed recently, that his goal is to lead a review and rewrite of the zoning regulations.
Mushak recently attempted to amend zoning regulations for Main Avenue, after the application for a BJ’s Wholesale Club was withdrawn. That effort was ended by Committee Chairwoman Emily Wilson and Zoning Commissioner Linda Kruk.
It is not possible to change regulations when the change would affect an application, including the Al Madany application making its way through the court.
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