The Hillside Islamic Center, a mosque in New Hyde Park, filed a lawsuit Tuesday, March 10, against the Town of North Hempstead, claiming the town used its zoning power to prevent its congregation from building an adequate place of worship, according to court documents.
The mosque seeks to expand its facilities by 6,600 square feet and add 63 parking spaces to relieve crowding during busy periods. The town board denied the request, despite the zoning board’s recommendation to accept the expansion, according to the complaint.
“It was a campaign of obstruction dressed in the language of zoning,” the complaint stated, saying the town board denied the expansion despite a Planning Department memorandum finding the application fully compliant with the town’s code.
A spokesperson for the Town of North Hempstead said details of the case would not be discussed at this time.
“North Hempstead has formally responded to the legal complaint, but because the matter is currently before the court, the Town will not be discussing the details publicly at this time,” the town’s communications director, Umberto Mignardi, said in a statement. “The court will address the matter in the proper forum.”
The current lawsuit invokes the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which prevents governments from imposing “substantial burden” on religious exercise, including through zoning laws.
It also applies the 1st and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and Section 3 of the New York State Constitution.
This lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York comes after a years-long effort to expand.
“We cannot accommodate people inside. We have to accommodate people outside,” Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan, the center’s board chairman and a complainant in the lawsuit, said. “Overall, the center not having extra space for people to come worship and take lessons is really limiting our ability to serve the people there.”
After more than seven months of divisive public hearings, the Town of North Hempstead voted along party lines in January 2024 to deny the Hillside Islamic Center’s expansion plan. The site plan proposal did not require any variances and was compliant with the town code.
In response, the Hillside Islamic Center initiated Article 78 proceedings against the town, the complaint said.
In January 2025, the Nassau County Supreme Court reversed the town’s denial of an expansion application. The town later appealed that decision in September.
“Our goal is to have the expansion approved. I think there’s no way they can deny. A judge already gave a verdict on our behalf, in the Article 78 lawsuit,” Bhuiyan said.
The complaint stated the town’s denial of the application followed shifting objections from the board: first, parking concerns; then, circulation concerns; and finally, general concerns about neighborhood character.
It said the board’s denial and public response were part of a larger trend of community opposition to the mosque. The complaint said that in 2005, gunfire shattered the mosque’s front windows, and in 2011, a signature campaign opposed its presence and expansion.
“There’s a handful of very vocal opponents of our being here and our expansion. Because they are so vocal, and the politicians give them their ear, and are probably of the same mind, our situation has come to this,” Bhuiyan said, adding that a majority of the mosque’s congregation live in New Hyde Park.
He said that the majority of the village community has not presented any problems for the mosque.
“At the end of the day, this is our community,” Bhuiyan said. “We want to make sure everyone feels comfortable, whether you’re Muslim or non-muslim. We want to have a peaceful life and coexistence, making sure that everybody understands and respects each other.”
