Civil rights group files federal lawsuit against Lodi Township on zoning for houses of worship
CAIR Michigan Staff Attorney Amy Doukoure says the township currently does not have zoning set aside for religious houses of worship.
Lodi Township is located in Washtenaw County, just southwest of Ann Arbor.
The nonprofit Council on American-Islamic Relations – Michigan chapter filed a federal lawsuit against Lodi Township on behalf of Masjid Al-Farook.
CAIR Michigan Staff Attorney Amy Doukoure says the house of worship has been trying to open since September 2021. The lawsuit will determine whether the township is blocking the process under the Religious Land Use And Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA.
“It will have the courts look at Lodi Township zoning ordinance as it is right now to see whether or not it violates federal law, creating a zoning ordinance that prohibits religious assembly uses or even substantially burdens their ability to enter into the township,” she said.
Doukoure says the township currently does not have zoning set aside for religious houses of worship.
Listen: CAIR Michigan Staff Attorney Amy Doukoure discusses the lawsuit filed in federal court against Lodi Township
“They have both restricted the ability of the religious assembly use to come in, but also they have made it substantially difficult to obtain the rezoning that’s necessary to get them in,” she said.
Similar lawsuits have been filed by CAIR Michigan in the past against Pittsfield Township and Troy, which ultimately led the cities to settle and process the requests.
“They wanted to redo their zoning laws to allow religious places of worship in agricultural districts without a rezoning application, where they would just basically submit a site plan, and if the site plan met specific requirements, they would be able to then go ahead and use it. But that never…that has since February, when we had our hearing, that has never happened,” she said.
Doukoure says she hopes Lodi Township will take the steps to remedy the zoning and allow the institution to open.
“So we’re hoping that Lodi township will receive the lawsuit, and it will force their hand to make them, you know, take the steps that they needed to take for over almost three years now.”
The lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
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