'Stand With Muslims In Plainfield' Event Planned After Muslim Center Voted Down

PLAINFIELD, IL — A Plainfield resident and Bolingbrook hotel manager said he is consulting with a legal team after the Village of Plainfield twice failed to approve a Muslim group's request to relocate from Route 59 to a former church/Montessori school in Plainfield. On Monday, Zaki Basalath told Patch he could not comment on the board's Aug. 21 tie vote — essentially a "no" vote — on his request to open the Plainfield Community Center at 23616 W. Main St.

Basalath's group, the Islamic Foundation of the Southwest Suburbs, has held prayer services in a Route 59 storefront for the past 10 years in Plainfield. Earlier this year, the group purchased the former church site for $580,000 and submitted a request for special use to permit religious assembly.

Despite the Main Street site's previous use as a church, neighbors objected, citing traffic concerns. A petition urging the village board members to vote against the plan had generated only 69 signatures towards its 1,000-signature goal as of Monday. Even so, the village board failed to approve it twice, first because a motion to table the vote for two weeks failed to get a second, and again on Aug. 21 because the board voted 3-3 with trustee Ed O'Rourke abstaining. O'Rourke did not respond to a message from Patch Monday seeking a comment on why he chose to abstain.

Trustees Larry Newton and Bill Lamb joined Mayor Mike Collins in voting yes, noting that Basalath had responded to residents' concerns by agreeing to cut the maximum occupancy to 114 from 150 people and promising to install landscaping to mitigate the effect of headlights on neighbors' property during early morning services.

On Monday, Collins said he'd met with Basalath and members of the Islamic Foundation of the Southwest Suburbs and toured the Main Street property. "He's willing to do just about anything" to accommodate neighbors, Collins said. "Everything makes a lot of sense to me." Collins noted that Basalath has been a Plainfield resident for a decade.

Collins said his yes vote boiled down to freedom of religion, saying the fact that he opened the Aug. 21 meeting by declaring Sept. 17 to 23 "Constitution Week" in Plainfield wasn't lost on him.

Collins responded to an Aug. 25 column in the Chicago Sun-Times that blasted the village for failing to approve Basalath's request."When is an old church no longer a suitable place for Americans to come together to pray?" Mark Brown wrote. "In the southwest suburban village of Plainfield, the answer seems to be: when Muslims want to do the praying." Brown took aim at what he called "NIMBY excuses" against the plan, saying, "This is being driven by fear and prejudice and the misguided mindset of 'keeping terrorists out.'"

Basalath told Brown he "absolutely" believes opposition to his permit request is motivated by discrimination. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

"I don't think the Village of Plainfield is a racist community," Collins told Patch.

Trustees Cally Larson, Margie Bonuchi and Brian Wojowski voted against the plan on Aug. 21. While Larson also cited traffic as the reason she couldn't support the proposal, Bonuchi and Wojowski did not publicly comment on their vote. Larson and Brian Wojowski are relative newcomers to the village board, having been elected in 2017 and 2015, respectively, while Bonuchi has served on the board since 2009.

"I really don't know" why they voted no, Collins said. "I was at odds listening to some of the reasons for their vote, if stated at all." Bonuchi also didn't immediately respond to messages from Patch seeking comment.

Collins told Patch the Plainfield Community Center is "penciled in" for reconsideration at the next village board meeting on Sept. 18. Two area groups, Southwest Suburban Activists and Illinois Stop Moving Backwards, are urging residents to attend the meeting and speak up.

The groups are organizing an event called "Stand with Muslims in Plainfield to Demand Approval of a Mosque!" The Facebook event page urges, "Join us at the next Plainfield Village Board meeting to stand with a local Muslim group which was denied a permit to pray for no logical reason at all. There will be time for public comments for anyone who wishes to speak. Please bring a sign to show solidarity!"

While he couldn't comment on the status of his request to the village board, Basalath said his group "definitely will be taking the necessary steps going forward."

More from Patch: Plainfield Board Fails To Vote On Muslim Community Center

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