Interesting Case Related to Development Moratorium Possibly Triggered by Hostility to Muslims
A brief excerpt from the 6500+-word opinion in Zikar Holdings LLC v. Ruhland, decided Dec. 26 by Judge Jeffrey Bryan (D. Minn.):
Plaintiffs allege that Defendant City of Lino Lakes … and two of its City Council members, Defendants Michael Ruhland and Christopher Lyden, enacted a one-year moratorium on development in a discrete area of the City where Plaintiffs had proposed to build a residential development that would include a masjid (mosque), and that they did so because of their discriminatory animus toward Islam and Muslims.
Plaintiffs assert that, in doing so, Defendants have violated the Fair Housing Act (FHA), the Free Exercise Clause …, the Equal Protection Clause …, and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). In their motion for a preliminary injunction, Plaintiffs ask the Court to enjoin the City from enforcing the moratorium, among other things….
A brief excerpt of the background factual allegations:
Ahmed and Mohammed took an interest in developing the Robinson Property. Ahmed and Mohammed are Muslims who worship at a masjid in nearby Blaine, a suburban city directly adjacent to Lino Lakes. Ahmed’s and Mohammed’s masjid in Blaine had more worshippers than capacity, and its services were regularly crowded. According to certain Islamic hadiths to which Ahmed and Mohammed subscribe, Muslims receive spiritual blessings if they are able to walk to their place of worship. Ahmed and Mohammed wished to develop a community that would permit Muslim community members to walk to their place of worship. In furtherance of this idea, they formed Zikar Holdings, LLC. In late 2023, Plaintiffs identified the Robinson Property as a workable location for their contemplated residential development, which they would call “Madinah Lakes.”
The cou
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