WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

A federal judge said that DuPage County was “arbitrary and capricious” in denying a Muslim group’s petition to locate a mosque in an unincorporated plot near west-suburban Naperville.

In the highest-profile event yet for a pilot program that allows cameras in some Illinois courtrooms, a DuPage county judge allowed cameras inside the courtroom Wednesday for Elzbieta Plackowska’s arraignment.

After years of controversy, DuPage County’s Board will consider whether the Islamic Center of Western Suburbs may turn a house near west suburban Bartlett into a mosque. 

DuPage County’s board has denied a request from a developer of an incoming mosque to add a dome and minaret that would exceed the county’s 36-foot height limit.

The DuPage County Board is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether an incoming mosque may add a minaret and dome to its building plan. MECCA, the Muslim Educational Cultural Center of America, has applied for a conditional use permit to construct a 50-foot high dome and a 60-foot high minaret.

DuPage County has new rules on where places of assembly, including places of worship, can set up. The county board Tuesday voted unanimously to allow those institutions into all zoning districts by right.

This week the DuPage County Board is expected to vote on new rules about where places of worship can locate. The changes would allow houses of worship into all zoning districts by right, unlike before.