Sterling Heights approves a mosque at the former Carpathia Club on Utica Road, over neighbors’ traffic worries

STERLING HEIGHTS — The vacant building that was home to the Carpathia Club, a German cultural club, will become a mosque and religious school after the Sterling Heights Planning Commission approved the change over objections from neighbors worried about traffic on Utica Road.

Commissioners voted 7-0 to grant the RIDA Foundation a special land use for a place of worship at 38000 Utica Road, on the north side of the road between Schoenherr and Hayes, C&G Newspapers reported. Two members were absent. The case was on the commission’s Oct. 14 agenda. Because places of worship are allowed in the city’s R-80 single-family zone with special approval, the vote was not a rezoning or a variance, Chairman Nathan Inks said.

What the city’s report says

The city planning staff’s report in the meeting packet describes a 22,860-square-foot building on about 23 acres. The northern part of the property, near the Clinton River, is in the flood plain. The Carpathia Club closed sometime in 2023, and the building has sat empty since, according to the report. Rammler Golf Club lies to the north, Rockpointe Community Church to the west and homes to the east.

The foundation plans one prayer room, a classroom, three meeting rooms, offices and a board room. The five daily prayers last 15 to 45 minutes and shift with the sun, from about 6 a.m. to about 10:15 p.m. in the schedule the report lists. Classes would run Monday through Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons, starting with 20 to 30 students and growing to 50 or 60. The applicant estimated no more than 120 people would be on site at once. The lot has 247 parking spaces, 37 more than the city requires for the use.

The foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, wrote in its application that it has held services and classes at other Metro Detroit mosques and centers for years but never had a permanent home, and that many of its families have moved to Sterling Heights and Macomb Township.

Neighbors’ concerns

Several residents asked the commission to say no. One woman said traffic near Schoenherr and Utica is already heavy and the mosque would make it “a bigger nightmare.” Another said it can take her 10 minutes to get out of her subdivision.

Planners said most of the mosque’s traffic would come at off-peak hours and that the foundation coordinates drop-offs and pickups. Raafi Islam, speaking for the RIDA Foundation, said the busiest time would be Friday afternoon prayers and that the group is “committed to transparency” with neighbors.

Federal law and the conditions

The staff report reminded commissioners that the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act limits how far cities can restrict houses of worship through zoning. Sterling Heights has been here before: more than a decade ago it settled lawsuits from the U.S. Department of Justice and the American Islamic Community Center after denying approval for a mosque on 15 Mile Road.

The approval carries nine conditions. They bar outdoor amplified services or other amplified noise, require the foundation to restripe the lot because eight of its 12 accessible parking spaces lack the required access aisles, and send the use back to the commission for possible revocation if violations are substantiated. The foundation still needs administrative site plan review.

Sources:
City of Sterling Heights, Planning Commission agenda packet, Oct. 14, 2026, case PPCM-1378, RIDA Foundation (staff report: building and site size, flood plain, Carpathia Club history, surrounding uses, floor plan, prayer and class schedule, attendance, parking, RLUIPA summary, conditions; applicant’s submission), https://www.sterlingheights.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_10142026-3133?packet=true
C&G Newspapers, “Planning Commission OKs Utica Road mosque,” Oct. 30, 2026 (vote, absences, Inks, Islam and resident remarks, earlier 15 Mile Road settlement), https://www.candgnews.com/articles/business-development/planning-commission-oks-utica-road-mosque/
Photo: ajay_suresh, “Sterling Heights - City Hall (50826112198).jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0, cropped and resized, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sterling_Heights_-_City_Hall_(50826112198).jpg

Sterling Heights

Tags: Sterling Heights · Planning Commission · RIDA Foundation · Carpathia Club · Utica Road · Zoning