Stafford County's dispute with Muslim organization heats up amid DOJ investigation
Stafford County's longstanding relationship with the All Muslim Association of America predictably soured after county leaders effectively blocked the organization's proposed cemetery.
The Muslim nonprofit lobbed accusations of religious discrimination, leading to a U.S. Department of Justice investigation that could turn into a lawsuit against the county. But Stafford once enjoyed a good relationship with the AMAA—maybe too good, according to Supervisor Wendy Maurer.
At a public meeting Tuesday, Maurer said she thinks the AMAA benefited from political favoritism when the county bought a large swath of land from the nonprofit for more than $600,000 in 2017. That 76-acre property on Brooke Road abuts the organization's existing cemetery—which the county approved in 1995—but Planning Director Jeff Harvey said the AMAA determined it would be “cost prohibitive” to expand the cemetery there because of slopes and wetlands.
The county bought the land and an adjacent tract owned by someone else with the stated goals of saving forests and wetlands near Crow's Nest Natural Area Preserve and providing a buffer for a nearby 70-acre heron rookery.
Read more: https://www.fredericksburg.com/stafford-s-dispute-with-muslim-organization-heats-up-amid-doj/article_b9b282cb-cebc-5ce1-8df9-51fc7f78369c.html
