Politics & Government

County Focuses on New Sufism Sanctuary Plan

Board of Supervisors may schedule special meeting to hear appeal of Planning Commission's November approval.

The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors may schedule a special meeting to hear an appeal of the Planning Commission's November approval of a new Sufism Reoriented religious center on Boulevard Way, Saranap.

The board, meeting Tuesday, may set a date for a special meeting, anticipating a big crowd interested in the 66,074-square-foot sanctuary  to be built on three acres in unincorporated Walnut Creek, said Cliff Glickman, chief of staff for Supervisor Karen Mitchoff.

The issue received a national airing in a long piece by local political activist and blogger Wendy Lack on the "American Thinker" website. Lack argued that Sufism Reoriented seeks exemptions from zoning requirements by marginalizing neighborhood opponents as biased against the religion and resisting out of Not in My Backyard syndrome.

The design features 13 white roof domes ranging in height fro 20 to 35 feet, said Lack, who serves on the board of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association.

The church has been meeting in a temporary sanctuary for 35 years, according to the Sufi Reoriented Walnut Creek website. The building will "sit lightly on the earth and enhance the environment." Two-thirds of the building will be underground, preserving the surrounding property for landscaped gardens, the website states — it will be "one of the 'greenest' buildings in Contra Costa County."

Neighborhood opponents, organized as the Saranap Preservation Society, are urging residents to sign a petition against the project. Neighbors have objected based on effects on traffic, aesthetics, and air and soil quality.


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