Huntington Beach won't sell land to Muslim group for mosque

July 6, 2011 | 8:13am

The Huntington Beach City Council on Tuesday rejected an offer from a Muslim group seeking to build a mosque on land the city is selling.

Instead, the city accepted an offer made by the city of Westminster for the piece of land, according to the Huntington Beach Independent.

Al Noor Charitable Foundation's offer was higher than Westminster's, but it was rejected because the group is requesting to change the land use so they can build the mosque.

While members of the City Council said they would be happy to sell it to Al Noor, the issue over changing the land use could stall the sale and prevent Huntington Beach from benefiting sooner rather than later. Westminster, however, might not be able to pay for the land because of a potential loss of state redevelopment funds — money that the city is relying on to pay for the parcel. If Westminster backs out, the council would be expected to reopen talks with Al Noor, Councilman Keith Bohr said.

The land is owned by Huntington Beach but is within the city of Westminster.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... osque.html