DuPage Co. rejects Islamic learning center

Plans to operate an Islamic education facility near Naperville were rejected Tuesday by the DuPage County Board after nearly two years worth of debate.

Board members voted 10-7 to deny a conditional-use permit for the Irshad Learning Center, with the majority of board members concerned about the operation of the facility in a residential neighborhood. They suggested it was time the board re-examine a special zoning proposal for religious institutions.

"This should not be in a residential neighborhood," said board member Jim Zay. "We have to do something where we find a spot for these kinds of facilities to go."

Officials from Irshad were upset by the decision and suggested legal actions against the county could be on the horizon.

"We were hopeful the rule of law would prevail," said Mahmood Ghassemi, chairman of the center's board of trustees. "This is not done. We feel the county's decision was not the legal decision."

Board member Tony Michelassi, chairman of the board development committee, worked for weeks to try and garner enough support for the proposal. He voted in favor of the proposal. He said he's not afraid of being sued. But he is concerned that if a lawsuit were successful, the county would lose all the concessions related to hours of operation, parking and noise that center officials had agreed to.

Michelassi's Democratic colleagues on the board, Dirk Enger and Rita Gonzalez, were among those who voted against the proposal. Their votes could have tipped the scales in favor of the facility.

"This is a case that went back and forth for me," Enger said. "In the end, I think there were too many loopholes."

Some of the residents who opposed the permit spoke at Tuesday's board meeting and accused the center of having ties to "terrorist organizations." The residents complained about a loan made to the center by the New York-based Alavi Foundation. That groups contends it is a nonprofit organization devoted to promoting Islamic culture and the Persian language, but federal officials recently announced it was investigating the group because of its ties to the Iranian government.

Michelassi said he didn't believe any of his colleagues were swayed by the residents' comments.

"I think everyone in this room is smart enough not to put much stock in any of that," he said.

Ghassemi labeled the comments, "stupid and ignorant."