After controversy around a proposed mosque in Broken Arrow reached a fever pitch last week, the city council voted 4-1 Monday night to deny a zoning request and special use permit that would allow an Islamic organization to expand in Broken Arrow.
The Islamic Society of Tulsa has congregated for nearly 50 years and has owned the land in question — 15 acres along South Olive Avenue just south of the Creek Turnpike — since 2014.
The special meeting at Northeastern State University’s Broken Arrow campus lasted more than three hours with about 45 people speaking during public comment. More than half were opposed to the project.
Many raised concerns about the property’s stormwater detention, increasing traffic and the applicants’ proposal to use a septic tank due to lack of sewer access. Those concerns differed from online furor that largely focused on opposition to Islam being practiced in Broken Arrow.
After IST representatives spent about 10 minutes answering questions from the public and councilors, Ward 2 Councilor Lisa Ford said she still holds the same concerns about the project that she did before the meeting.
“I think the comprehensive plan is very clear on what we want in that area, and the traffic situation clearly is not going to get any better,” Ford said.
Ward 4 Councilor Justin Green, the only Black member, said his vote against the project is not “based on racism” or Islamophobia but because he believes the project is incompatible with the land.
“We’re here to look at this case on the merits and the facts that have been presented to us,” Green said. “If you look up here, one of these things is not like the other. It wasn’t very long ago that a person who looked like me would not be able to sit in a seat like this. So, the things being discussed here today are things that are practical, logical and reasonable.”
Muhammad Azfal, chairman of the IST, said he and other leadership will decide next steps on whether they will continue to pursue the mosque in the proposed location.
“I strongly believe if it happens in the future, once we start functioning, the community perspective will change,” Azfal said. “They will start liking us.”
Veronica Laizure, executive director of CAIR-Oklahoma — the Oklahoma chapter of America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group — said the city council’s decision “seemed” to be based on concerns surrounding practical land use concerns. Laizure is an attorney representing IST.
“However, if we find that there has been discriminatory motive, that this proposal has perhaps been treated with higher levels of scrutiny than a similar situated house of worship of another faith, we would certainly be concerned about that as discrimination and legal action would be contemplated,” she added.
Had the project been approved, the 42,000-square-foot building would have included a worship space, a strip mall and a public clinic.
The IST had originally planned for more than 700 parking spaces for the mosque, as approved by the BA Planning Commission in December. However, a new proposal presented to council Monday reduced that number to 150.
Mayor Debra Wimpee, Ward 3 Councilor David Pickel and Ford joined Green in rejecting the project. Vice Mayor Johnnie Parks cast the lone vote to approve the rezoning request.
Religious freedom, impact on Broken Arrow at center of debate
Tulsa Asian Affairs Commissioner Masood Kasim, a former chairman of the IST, was the first to address the council.
“We are asking for nothing more than what this country promises, the freedom to worship peacefully and to contribute positively to the community we already call home,” Kasim said. “Regardless, religious freedom does not exist only when it is comfortable or popular.”
Linda Russell, a Broken Arrow resident, claimed the Islamic Society of Tulsa has been “repeatedly connected” to terrorist organizations, referencing an investigation opened by Attorney General Gentner Drummond last week. Drummond, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, said he was looking into a connection to the Muslim Brotherhood. The society has denied there is any foreign funding associated with the project.
“Councilors, this is why we’re having this discussion,” Russell said. “When an organization has been repeatedly connected by courtroom rulings, FBI investigations and public officials to extremist groups, caution is not fear-mongering — it’s common sense.”
Billy Hursh, a Broken Arrow resident who serves as a police officer in another jurisdiction, said his Lutheran church would not be met with the same scrutiny as this mosque.
“For 13 years, I’ve served with a municipal agency in this area, and for several of those years, I was assigned to patrol an area where there happens to be a mosque. During those years, I responded to hundreds of incidents, many of them violent in that area,” Hursh said. “The notable thing I wanted to share with you is the number of those incidents that were caused by people from that mosque — that number is zero.”
State Sen. Christie Gillespie, a Republican who represents Broken Arrow, said the 2019 comprehensive plan designates the land for commercial use. Even under an older plan, she said, the site was set to become high-density residential development.
Broken Arrow resident Clayton Bowen said Muslims are part of the community’s fabric.
“There are over 1,000 Muslims who call Broken Arrow home. We go to work, raise our children and support our neighbors when they are in need or when times get tough…” Bowen said. “I have heard people say that Broken Arrow will be changed if the mosque is built, but I disagree. Broken Arrow will remain what it always has been — a place to raise a family.”
Opponents of the project, including Republican State Sen. Gabe Woolley, pointed to traffic issues as a main reason to deny the request. Amid uproar over the mosque, Woolley filed a bill last week reviving efforts to ban sharia law in the state.
Nathan Dahm, a former state senator and Oklahoma Republican Party chair, asserted the retail portion of the project — set to be constructed after the mosque was complete — was only proposed to qualify for the commercial zoning desired in the comprehensive plan. Others cast doubt as to whether retail would come to fruition at all.
“There is no evidence that this is compliant with the plan … that this will be compliant with the concerns on water, with parking, with anything else that would be low impact,” Dahm said. “In fact, the evidence indicates they will cause major impact to traffic and to many other things.”
Still others worried about the potential legal, economic and reputational costs of denying the mosque proposal. At the podium, resident Linda Corbin Young asked councilors which city services would be reduced or eliminated to defend against incoming lawsuits.
“What strategies is the economic development department of Broken Arrow working on to deal with the national news coverage that will cast Broken Arrow as a basket of hate if we fail to move forward?” she asked.
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