One motion argues that after planners rejected the mosque and the society sued, planners had no authority to reopen the process.
NEWARK -- The Islamic community suing Bernards Township over its denial of a proposal to build a mosque wants no part of the township Planning Board's offer to resubmit its application, it said in court papers filed Friday.
The Islamic Society of Basking Ridge Friday filed two motions in federal court, including one asking a judge to quash the board's April 19 resolution to restart the clock giving society time to seek a new hearing.
An artist's rendering of the rejected mosque. (Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler) According to the filing, agreeing to the board's offer would bog the society down in more planning hearings or be used as an admission that its plans were insufficient.
The motion seeks to stop the planning board's offer to re-open the window to the application unless the court remands the matter back to the planning board or it is part of a step toward settlement.
The society brief also says the board legally divested its role in the application after it issued its denial and the society sued.
"This is only logical -- the bases for a planning board's decision cannot be a moving target after its final decision has been challenged in court," it says.
Under state land use law, the society had 20 days to file a revised site plan after the final denial of the application was made official on Jan. 19. The group decided not to act during the time. Instead, it used a 45-day window to file a lawsuit in federal court on March 10.
The board's denial came after 39 hearings over nearly four years, and was based on anti-Muslim sentiment, the lawsuit says.
In its reply, the township said the rejection of the application was solely based on deficiencies in it, and it denied any "discriminatory intent."
The U.S. Justice Department confirmed days after the filing of the lawsuit that it is investigating whether there was anti-Muslim bias in the case.
Mayor Carol Bianchi said she was disappointed by the society's action.
"I have no doubt the Planning Board was acting in good faith by passing the resolution," she said. "The motions filed by Plaintiffs, however, do not seem to indicate a good faith desire to resolve the issues."
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A second motion asks the court to rule in favor of the society on some of its claims because the board held the society to a different standard on parking -- the issue it says "underpinned" all the land-use objections planners put on record.
The society, which said it wanted a mosque to serve at most 150 worshippers, which would have required a lot of 50 parking spots. But the board required nearly three times that many, it said.
The motion says the township held no other religious community to such standards and said its ordinance giving planners "unbridled discretion" to change the standard is unconstitutional.
Tim Darragh may be reached at tdarragh@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @timdarragh. Find NJ.com on Facebook.