Zoning Board Rejects Islamic Center Plan (Common Sense in Walkersville, MD)

The Washington Post ^ | February 9, 2008 | Philip Rucker

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

After months of heated debate, the zoning appeals board in Walkersville has rejected a proposal by a Silver Spring-based Muslim sect to build a mosque and retreat facility on a 224-acre farm in the rural Frederick County town.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's plans to build an Islamic worship center that would host up to 10,000 people annually for a national religious convention stoked intense public outcry in Walkersville, a mostly white hamlet of about 5,000 people nestled near the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

But although the proposal stirred religious tensions, the Walkersville Board of Zoning Appeals cited more pedestrian reasons for denying the request late Thursday night, saying the facility would attract too much traffic and threaten the town's water supply. The board's decision came on the third day of public deliberation over the proposal.

An attorney for the landowner who was selling his farm to the Muslim group called the board's decision "both irrational and discriminatory."

"This conflict has been defined from day one by a desire to keep a Muslim group out of the area," Roman Storzer said in a statement.

Storzer said his client had not decided whether to appeal the decision.

(snip)

The mosque would have been built on Walkersville's largest farm, once occupied by the town's founding father, John Walker. The Colonial-era farmhouse would have been converted into living space for an imam and other clergy members.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

This is a follow-up to a local story that emerged last August when this particular Muslim group wanted to build an enormous Islamic complex in Walkersville, Frederick County, Maryland.

The whole thing smelled from the start since the site is fairly isolated out in the country, but is only about 15 minutes from Camp David and sits directly under any number of flight corridors for BWI, Dulles, and Washington-Reagan National Airports.

This story is probably not over since I imagine that the Muslim sect will appeal the ruling in court, backed by big Saudi oil money. But at least the folks in Walkersville had the good sense to stand up to these potential invaders and not partake of the "diversity" snake oil.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Good Job Ping!

[mtbopfuyn]

The whole thing smelled from the start since the site is fairly isolated out in the country, but is only about 15 minutes from Camp David and sits directly under any number of flight corridors for BWI, Dulles, and Washington-Reagan National Airports.

Most interesting.

[vietvet67]

Maybe they didn't like the design.

[silverleaf]

LOL! Is that thing aimed at Mecca?