CAIR-NJ 'Strongly Supports' Lawsuit Against Sayreville For Rejecting Mosque

SAYREVILLE, NJ — The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ) said they strongly support a federal lawsuit filed against the town of Sayreville for its refusal to approve a very large new mosque and Muslim community center on Ernston Road.

The lawsuit was filed in November by Masjid Sadar against the borough of Sayreville and the Sayreville Planning Board. The lawsuit alleges the Sayreville Planning Board discriminated against the Muslim community and violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law in America that seeks to protect houses of worship from discrimination in zoning.

"Sayreville officials must be held accountable for allowing bias to influence land-use decisions," said CAIR-NJ in a statement Dec. 8. "Hundreds of Muslims live in and around Sayreville, yet the nearest mosque is miles away. Every community deserves equal access to houses of worship. Zoning laws cannot be used to keep certain faith groups out.”

There is a small existing mosque currently located at 216 Ernston Road in Sayreville, in a small, two story brown clapboard house. An Islamic group called Masjid Sadar wants to tear down that existing building and rebuild a much larger mosque there, plus an attached Muslim community center. The original proposed mosque was going to be 42,687 square feet, but the Planning Board made the religious group reduce its size to 25,363 square feet.

Still, the Sayreville Planning Board rejected their proposal in June of this year. The Planning Board rejected the mosque because it did not have enough parking.

"Despite agreeing to reduce the size of the mosque and accepting two dozen conditions set forth by the board, the application for Masjid Sadar was ultimately rejected in June on the grounds of parking concerns," said CAIR-NJ. "Parking calculations followed borough zoning ordinances, but Board officials demanded more than triple the required number of spaces."

CAIR-NJ said the Islamic group underwent a 13-month review process from the town of Sayreville, and was forced to attend eight public hearings on the mosque and make revisions to their plans four separate times — all to be ultimately rejected by the Planning Board.

As reported previously, the Islamic group said they were subject to "unusual" and "burdensome, discriminatory and unreasonable" questioning from the Planning Board about the mosque, including how much traffic the mosque would attract.

Muslim Group Sues Town Of Sayreville For Rejecting 25,363-Square-Foot Mosque (Nov. 28)

Large Mosque, Muslim Community Center Proposed On Ernston Road In Sayreville (April 2025)