The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN) sued the City of Bartlett last week, following the city’s February vote to deny a Special Use Permit application submitted by the Bartlett Muslim Society for the construction of a mosque.
The Bartlett Muslim Society proposed to build the mosque on an 8.244-acre parcel it owns in a Residential Estate zoning district on Broadway Road.
The land qualified for a Special Use Permit due to its size, and the Planning Commission required a traffic study for the proposed construction of a mosque.
While the traffic study found no harmful effects on the already congested five-way intersection, several Bartlett aldermen questioned the study’s scope – noting missing data and expressed concern over existing congestion, school bus traffic, and real-world conditions which were not reflected in the study.
Officials and community members who spoke out against the proposed mosque at meetings all expressed support for the Muslim community’s presence in Bartlett, however, stressed how the selected site was poorly suited due to traffic, infrastructure, and cost concerns.
On February 25 at the City of Bartlett’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s regular meeting, officials rejected the Bartlett Muslim Society’s Special Use Permit application in a 1-5 vote, emphasizing before the vote that the decision was based on location, not religion.
The ACLU-TN, on behalf of the Bartlett Muslim Society, filed a lawsuit on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee against the City of Bartlett, arguing that its rejection of the religious group’s permit application was driven by anti-Muslim bias and religious discrimination.
The lawsuit claims that the city subjected the Bartlett Muslim Society to a lengthy and costly permitting process, including the traffic study, which imposed “significant financial harm, delayed the construction of a much-needed religious facility, and substantially burdened the Plaintiff’s members’ ability to gather and worship according to their sincerely held religious faith.”
The Bartlett Muslim Society is seeking a permanent injunction directing the city to approve the group’s application for a Special Use Permit, as well as a declaratory judgment that the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and Tennessee’s Preservation of Religious Freedom Act.
Further, the group is seeking compensatory damages, nominal damages, and “reasonable” attorneys’ fees.
Badrul Hossain, board president of the Bartlett Muslim Society, said his group had “no choice” but to file the lawsuit.
“Our congregation needs more space to worship, teach our children, and host community meals and gatherings. We have tried very hard to work with the city and have responded to any and all concerns raised, yet we were still denied a permit. Sadly, we had no choice but to file this lawsuit in order to continue practicing our faith,” Hossain said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Bartlett, Tennessee Welcome Sign” by Thomas R Machnitzki. CC BY 3.0.
