Muslim-Led Development At Crossroads Of 'Vitriol And Venom' Faces Long Political, Historic Odds

Developers of a proposed 402-acre community in rural Texas haven't submitted plans, secured permits or turned a shovelful of dirt, but they've already run face-first into a political brick wall.

The East Plano Islamic Center, one of the largest mosques in North Texas, has felt the full weight of the state bear down since floating a master-planned community about 40 miles east of Plano, fending off accusations of fostering discrimination, incorporating Sharia law and promoting potential criminal activities.

The mixed-use development known as EPIC City faces a gauntlet of political hurdles before it even gets to the starting line. And if the history of faith-based communities is any guide, it could easily stumble over any one of them before it hits the ground running.

“When you … have a mosque, there's always going to be some pushback from some certain circles,” said Imran Chaudhary, president of Community Capital Partners, which is leading the development. “But just some of the allegations that came out, it was just absolutely shocking to us. From our perspective, Sharia and ‘no-go zones,’ that absolutely never, ever was part of the discussion.”

Community Capital Partners, formed by members of the East Plano Islamic Center, unveiled plans earlier this year for EPIC City in a sparsely populated area of North Texas near Josephine. 

In addition to 1,000 homes, the community in Collin and Hunt counties is slated to include multifamily and senior living facilities, a K-12 faith-based school, another mosque, clinics and retail space.

Developers say EPIC City would be open to all comers. But many of Texas’ top political leaders don't see it that way, worried that the existence of the development could violate state and federal laws surrounding religious discrimination and imposition of Sharia law.

A Controversy Takes Shape

Trouble started brewing in late February when state Rep. Jeff Leach requested that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton investigate EPIC, noting he believed the development may “incorporate elements of Sharia law” amid other legal and constitutional concerns. Leach cited a 2017 Texas law against using “foreign laws” in state courts and urged an immediate review to ensure full compliance with Texas law.

Paxton agreed, and since then, investigations have multiplied. The project has tallied at least four other inquiries from the Texas Rangers, the Texas Workforce Commission, the Texas State Board of Securities and the Texas Funeral Service Commission.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott personally directed the Texas Rangers to get involved, tweeting in late March that the planned community would “never see the light of day.”

At the beginning of April, Abbott announced that since Texas Commission on Environmental Quality permits had not been submitted for the development, all construction must immediately cease or the project would “face the full weight of the law.”

But no dirt has been turned on the project, Chaudhary and Community Capital Partners’ legal counsel Dan Cogdell confirmed. Permits are still several months away and a groundbreaking won’t take place for at least 18 months.

“It worries you when you have somebody at that capacity [saying that],” Chaudhary said of statements from Abbott and other officials. “Who makes a statement like this?” 

Chaudhary and others involved in the project say they have received threats on social media and elsewhere. They've been surprised by the resistance from politicians and members of the public, including speakers at a March 31 public hearing, some of whom said the state and nation were “built on the gospel of Jesus Christ” and that members of the Muslim faith should assimilate, according to ABC affiliate WFAA.

Just as EPIC offers services to the greater Plano community, Chaudhary said the master-planned community would be open to anyone who wants to live there, Muslim or not. 

Yet as the number of politicians attacking the development continues growing, he pledged the group would remain committed to following every law to get the project built. 

“There are so many people moving from outside,” he said, adding the project sprang out of the growth both EPIC and the city of Plano have experienced over the last several years. “They want to come and they want to live here, and they need a home.”

Faith-Based Development's Troubled Past

It might not be that easy.

The history of Muslim and nontraditional Christian development in general is littered with controversy and disappointment even decades after 9/11 and the political furor spawned by a proposed Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan that was ultimately scuttled.

Islamberg, New York, settled by a group of mostly Black Muslim families in the 1980s, has faced repeated threats arising from online conspiracy theories, including that it is a training center for terrorists.

In 2017, a Muslim enclave in Joppatowne, Maryland, was targeted with protests and delays in obtaining building permits, culminating in a lawsuit claiming government officials were preventing Muslims from purchasing lots and exercising religious freedom.

A project similar to EPIC's in the Minneapolis exurb of Lino Lakes was put on indefinite hold last summer when its city council voted to place a building moratorium on land set aside by a developer for a Muslim-oriented community.

And 42 miles away from the EPIC City site outside Josephine, residents of Blue Ridge, Texas, are flooding city council meetings to prevent two proposed Muslim communities, Baladeyah and Qariyah of Princeton, from winning council approval.

Yet Muslims aren't the only faith-based developers to receive pushback in DFW, much less the country. 

Developer David Hall abandoned his plans in 2018 for a 20,000 person Mormon-inspired city called New Vistas near the Vermont birthplace of Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith after persistent resident and political opposition. 

Meanwhile, a contentious yearlong battle between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the North Texas town of Fairview over the construction of a temple has been used by Professor of Law Julie Rogers in her land use class at Southern Methodist University's Dedman School of Law to illustrate how politicians approach faith-based development.

“If a developer were advertising a new development and saying, ‘We're going to have a new development and we're going to have a [Christian] church and a religious school and services for seniors,’ I don't know that we would be seeing this kind of outcry,” Rogers said of EPIC City and similar projects.

During hearings leading up to the 2000 enactment of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, Congress gathered “massive evidence” of discrimination against religious institutions by elected and appointed officials in land-use decisions, she said. According to the Department of Justice, religious groups making up less than 10% of the population accounted for half of the reported court cases concerning zoning disputes.

“The idea being that religions that are perceived as unpopular are way more likely to receive pushback,” Rogers said.

Challenges Keep Coming

Chaudhary is quick to say EPIC City is for all faiths.

While much of the development will be single-family neighborhoods, developers plan to allocate 35 to 40 acres to commercial real estate. The group hopes to partner with Collin College or another community college for a campus in the development.

EPIC City's retail could end up being similar to a strip mall down the street from the Plano mosque that features shops such as Epic Market, Hanora Modest Fashion and Haraz Coffee House that cater to a Muslim audience. But Chaudhary said he envisions it being a space for whoever wants to come.

“It's going to be multiethnic at the end of the day,” Chaudhary said of EPIC City. “There's going to be retail and serving to different ethnicities and the customers that they have.”

But challenges keep coming, the latest from U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who is set to vie for his seat with Paxton in next year’s mid-term election.

Cornyn sent a letter to the DOJ earlier this month requesting it open an investigation into Epic City's potential discrimination against non-Muslim citizens.

“A master-planned ‘community of thousands of Muslims’ could violate the constitutional rights of Jewish and Christian Texans, by preventing them from living in this new community and discriminating against them within the community,” Cornyn wrote in his letter. “Appropriate steps should be taken to ensure that this community does not run afoul of these obligations.”

Chaudhary said Community Capital Partners is determined to follow all of the state’s rules, and he would like the opportunity to sit down with the politicians who have been creating such a bluster. None of them have reached out to speak with the developers or EPIC nor responded to invitations, he said.

“All of the resentment and vitriol and the venom and hate is completely unnecessary and is totally brought about by Abbott primarily, but other politicians misspeaking,” Cogdell, the development's attorney, said. “It's hate speech to bend to the far right to appease their base, and it's completely unnecessary.”

Cornyn's letter to the DOJ prompted a response from Muslim civil rights and advocacy group the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who called on the agency to reject Cornyn’s request and instead launch an investigation into whether Texas officials violated the rights of Muslims through discriminatory zoning, regulatory harassment and other actions.

The “project is a transparent, inclusive initiative to provide affordable housing and community services to families of all backgrounds,” CAIR-TX DFW Executive Director Mustafaa Carroll said in a statement. “It is shameful that Senator Cornyn is trying to harm Texas Muslims by urging the DOJ to let Governor Abbott and Attorney General Paxton abuse the regulatory process to intimidate and suppress our community’s religious rights.”

Abbott's press office declined to respond, directing Bisnow to an earlier press release in which the governor vowed that “The State of Texas will enforce its laws and protect our communities from unlawful actions or threats posed by EPIC or its affiliates.”

Paxton's office did not reply to a request for comment. The AG announced earlier this month that he would be expanding his investigation, demanding documents from city officials potentially tied to the development.

“If any local official is supporting or communicating with a real estate development that is under investigation for potential violations of state law, then it’s imperative that we are made aware of exactly what’s being communicated,” Paxton said. “We will thoroughly review these documents as part of our ongoing investigation into EPIC City and work to hold accountable anyone who breaks Texas law.”

Chaudhary said he just wants the opportunity to be heard.

“Right now, it's more of a concept plan that we are trying to share,” Chaudhary said. “We're going to have to go and work with the proper authorities and the people that we have to work with to bring that plan to fruition.”