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Controversial plans to open a mosque in a former school building in West Bloomfield moved a step closer to reality Friday with a decision by the Michigan Court of Appeals.
The appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that found the sale of the former Eagle Elementary on 14 Mile to the Islamic Cultural Association last year was proper. A three-judge panel said that plaintiffs Melvyn Sternfeld and Eugene Greenstein, West Bloomfield residents who opposed the sale, failed to prove that they would be harmed by the transaction.
“We are pleased to hear of the appellate court decision,” said Susan Zurvalec, superintendent of Farmington Public Schools. “We hope this puts us a step closer to resolving this matter.”
“It was a good result,” said Shereef Akeel, attorney for the Islamic Cultural Association. “It is time to move on now for the benefit of the community.”
“Sternfeld’s vague and speculative affidavit does not establish his standing to pursue declaratory and injunctive relief,” the panel said in its ruling.
It wasn’t known whether Sternfeld will appeal the decision. His attorney, Robert Davis, wasn’t immediately available for comment on Friday.
In its three-page ruling, the panel wrote that Sternfeld never asserted in court filings that the sale of the school to the ICA would have an impact, negative or otherwise, on his home, life or activities “because of close proximity” to the former school.
“There is no injury, other than a hypothetical one,” the panel wrote.
The ICA wants to convert the former school into a mosque and cultural center, which would be the township’s first. The building was sold by Farmington Public Schools for $1.1 million in June 2011. A lawsuit to block the sale was dismissed in Oakland Circuit Court last September.
