Oyster Bay must work with mosque, find a way forward

Oyster Bay has long been the place where development efforts die.

But the dispute between the town and Muslims of Long Island Inc., which owns the Masjid Al-Baqi mosque in Bethpage, seems to take the "Oyster Bay way" to a disturbing and possibly illegal extreme.

After years of delaying MOLI's plans to build a new, larger mosque, the town's Planning Advisory Board denied the application in December, citing parking, traffic and safety concerns. In its denial, the board wrote of "testimony from neighbors," and cited a grandmother who "testified" that her sport utility vehicle couldn't fit through clogged residential streets near the mosque as she took her grandchildren to day care. The resident "noted" that an emergency vehicle wouldn't fit either, the denial letter said.

Such testimony doesn't exist in transcripts or written public comments. Town officials say the grandmother was none other than Nassau County Legis. Rose Marie Walker, a longtime fixture in town and county Republican politics, and mother of former Nassau Chief Deputy County Executive Rob Walker, who served nearly a year in federal prison after admitting he tried to conceal a payment he took from a county contractor.

In a letter submitted to the advisory board and in short remarks at a July hearing, Rose Walker cited constituent concerns, never mentioning grandchildren, day care or an SUV. Officials have clarified that those details came from a separate conversation with a planning advisory board member. And the planning advisory board denial also seemed to contradict the town's own findings that the project would not result in a "significant adverse environmental impact." 

As the mosque's application was pending, the town added new restrictions to its parking code. After the denial, MOLI filed a federal lawsuit and in a very significant move, the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice in April supported their request for a preliminary injunction against the town for likely violating federal law protecting religious land use. None of this comes in a vacuum. Nine years ago, the Gobind Singh Sikh Center in Plainview sued Oyster Bay over its struggles to build a new temple.

MOLI has accused the town of "unimaginable bigotry" and a "bizarre and nightmarishly illogical" process.  Town officials replied that "planning decisions are based on facts, not politics — and certainly not prejudice," noting that in 2015, they denied another house of worship, a Greek Orthodox Church. 

But Walker's role in this drama shows politics is indeed playing a role. If facts were governing planning decisions, the denial wouldn't have relied on testimony that didn't exist or rejected town environmental findings. 

Oyster Bay must do better. Provide a level playing field and standards to which everyone — including the planning advisory board — must adhere. Walker must testify to provide clarity. And the planning advisory board should retract its denial, rethink its parking code changes and work with the Bethpage mosque to find a path forward. Oyster Bay must find a different "way."