an application from the Muslim community to build a new Islamic center on its property.
Lomita is a tiny city of 20,000 people in just two square miles near the southern end of Los Angeles County. Lomita City Atty. Christi Hogin told the Los Angeles Times that federal investigators have interviewed 13 people who were involved with the city’s decision. “It surprises me that the federal government would spend so many resources second-guessing this pretty basic land-use decision,” she said.
But supporters of the mosque disagree.
In a unanimous vote in March 2010, the Lomita City Council rejected a plan for a new consolidated worship center, citing neighbors’ concerns and in- creased traffic. The 4-0 vote occurred despite a study from city staff that concluded that traffic would remain unchanged.
Iraj Ershaghi, a founding member of the Islamic Center and manager of the redesign project, said council members faced “a lot of pressure” from residents to reject the proposal.
“There was a feeling that they just don’t want us there,” Ershaghi said.
Supporters of the mosque allege that the city violated the US Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. That law says that a land-use decision can be overturned if it discriminates against a religious institution or places a “substantial bur- den” on exercising faith.
Hogin said the land-use controversy boils down to a space is- sue. She noted that the planning committee only narrowly approved the proposal, 4 to 3, and said the council simply recognized that project managers were “trying to fit a building that was too big for that space.”
The Lomita Muslim community purchased the original property in 1985, and over the years bought adjacent properties as it expanded. The proposed project would have consolidated nine buildings into one two-story structure on the zigzagging property.
Ershaghi, a petroleum engineering professor at the University of Southern California, said worshipers currently have to walk up to 500 yards to get to different units and restrooms.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Ershaghi said. “The whole idea was to make this part of Lomita clean. You can see that this case really has nothing to do with the building.”