ACTION

The city is already ****ed. Will some brave citizen please file the challenge!! via The Marietta Daily Journal – Lawsuit filed in Mosque application. h/t Islamist Watch

KENNESAW — A federal lawsuit was filed against the city of Kennesaw on Tuesday in relation to one resident’s application to use a retail shopping center suite as a mosque, said Doug Dillard, the applicant’s attorney.

Dillard said the lawsuit was filed as a precaution in case anyone challenges the City Council’s Dec. 15 vote to approve the mosque application.

“If the opposition to the mosque filed a lawsuit and for some reason the vote that they took on December 15 was declared null and void, then all we’ve got to fall back on is their actions on Dec. 1,” Dillard said.

On Dec. 1, the council voted 4-1 to deny the mosque application, but then reversed that decision on Dec. 15.

However, Dillard said if the Dec. 15 vote is successfully challenged within 30 days of the vote, then the denial from Dec. 1 still stands.

Dillard said the lawsuit is there as a safety net until those 30 days run out. Then, the applicant can know for sure that the Dec. 15 approval stands.

“If the 30-day appeal period goes by and there is no appeal, we can always dismiss the lawsuit, but we had to file it as a preventative measure just in case someone challenged the December 15 action,” Dillard said.

A council member, a resident or anyone could challenge the vote, Dillard said.

Kennesaw Mayor Mark Mathews said he has not heard any indication from council members that there could be a challenge to the approval.

“As for the decision made by council, I have not heard any comments or discussions regarding any changes to the last action taken. The permit was approved unanimously,” Mathews said.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday in the U.S. Northern District Court references the First, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth amendments to the United States and Georgia constitutions as well as the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law protecting religious institutions from discriminatory zoning laws, Dillard said.

“Obviously, we hope we don’t have to litigate against the city. We hope the Dec. 15 vote is (upheld),” Dillard said.

Meanwhile, the applicant is beginning to get the retail space ready to become a mosque, Dillard said.

“They’re going forward with more requests for the permits and that kind of thing. They’re going full speed to make use of the property,” Dillard said.

As noted in a previous post, Georgia: Legal jihad terrorizes council members to approve mosque in retail shopping center:

Council member Debra Williams, who voted against the mosque the first time, changed her vote, as did council members Leonard Church, Tim Killingsworth and Jim Sebastian. Cris Eaton Welsh was the only member who voted in favor of the mosque both times.

“We denied a nightclub there a few months ago and we argued the same thing – traffic, noise and parking,” she told WND. “And it would have operated at night when all the other businesses were closed and they were willing to put in sound-proof walls. They should sue our pants off.”

Yes they should.