Anti-Mosque Group’s Crusade Ends

Concerned American Citizens' crusade has ended.

The group, which opposed plans to build a mosque on Nicolas Road, will take no more steps against the project, said George Rombach, co-head of the group who filed an appeal when the city's planning commission approved the plan in December.

The group's leaders at a January City Council meeting complained about the traffic the mosque may create, the lack of parking, the danger of building in a flood plain and the alleged unfair treatment of a church that wanted to build on the same lot.

The City Council put conditions in place that aimed to resolve most of those land-use complaints. These steps seemed to satisfy the anti-mosque group’s concerns.

“All the issues we complained of, the City Council made restrictions and limitations,” Rombach said. “It was a stunning victory.”

The City Council approved the mosque around 3:30 a.m. Jan. 26 after a meeting that lasted a record-breaking eight and a half hours.

City officials granted the Muslim congregation a permit to build, but set several stipulations. The congregation must never mount speakers outside the building, and the mosque will be subject to a parking and traffic review every five years.

The stipulations were less than what the anti-mosque group wanted, but they’ll have to do, Rombach said. “By itself, it’s probably not worth it,” he said of suing the city. “I think the City Council did an excellent job.”

A city staff member told St. Nicolas Greek Orthodox Church they could not build on the same lot, Rombach said. The city has no records of this happening, City Clerk Susan Jones said, and the church no longer wants to build on the lot, Rombach said. “The way St. Nicolas was treated was wrong,” but there’s no way to set it right, Rombach said.

Leaders of the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley, which meets in a warehouse in western Temecula’s industrial area, applied for permits to build early last year, kicking off a string of anti-Islam protests.

The first demonstration took place outside the Islamic Center in July during Friday prayers. The demonstrators stood hoding signs calling Muslims liars, terrorists and other insults.

An e-mail circulated before the demonstration urging members to bring dogs, which are considered unclean in Islam.

During other meetings, Rombach and co-head of the group, Mano Bakh, spoke out against the religion, calling it seditious and dangerous.

During later meetings, the group's leaders distanced themselves from the criticisms of the religion and focused on land-use complaints.