The Battle for Hoehns Road: Property Rights versus Muslim Supremacy
by Jerry Gordon (September 2015)
Hoehns Bolton Estate, Henrico County, Virginia
Source: Virginia Free Citizen
A battle is going on in exurban Henrico County in central Virginia between legacy property rights of a private road and expansion of the Islamic Center of Richmond (ICR). The ICR website estimates there are 1,500 Muslim residents in the West End of Richmond. The battle is not about freedom to worship protected under the First Amendment and federal laws granting exemption waivers from local land zoning laws. Instead it is about the abuse of the courts through lawfare to create a Muslim preserve in Central Virginia through force majeure, harassment and intimidation. The actors in the dispute are Sylvia Hoehns-Wright, an expert horticulturalist and author versus the land agent for the ICR, Yunus Vohra, a commercial property developer embroiled in bankruptcy proceedings and litigation. Vohra contended at an August 2014 County Planning hearing that the delay in rezoning applications by the ICR reflected anti-Muslim bias.
Among the few national groups endeavoring to raise public awareness of the Hoehns-Wright litigation battle brought by Vohra, ICR land agent, is the National Security Task Force of the Lisa Benson Show airing Sundays on KKNT960The Patriot.
Yunus Vohra of ICR trespassing on Hoehns Road
legal definition of “block busting” is:
The practice of illegally frightening homeowners by telling them that people who are members of a particular race, religion, or national origin are moving into their neighborhood and that they should expect a decline in the value of their property. The purpose of this scheme is to get the homeowners to sell out at a deflated price.
An unscrupulous real estate agent will subsequently sell the vacated homes to minority group members at an inflated price, thereby obtaining a large profit. Fair access to housing is defeated by blockbusting.
Map of Hoehns Road
Source: WTVR
The rights to the easements present-day known as Hoehns Road were granted to Ms. Wright’s father in 1939 by his mother under Virginia’s “quiet possession” laws. The original property was acquired by Ms. Wrights’ Quaker family who settled there in 1838. Ms. Wright was granted the land and its easements rights in 1983. In 2011 a relative sold seven acres with several small outbuildings to Vohra, who then gifted half of the property to the ICR for construction of a 31,000 square foot mega mosque complex, inclusive of sanctuary, Muslim school and community center. Ms. Wright contested the original County approval in 2012 of the ICR project and the County scaled down the size of the plan to 10,000 square feet. Wright’s neighbors, on her behalf, filed a request in June 2012 with former US House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. He submitted the question on the dispute to the US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division then headed by Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, now Labor Secretary in the Obama Administration. Perez replied in a letter dated September 5, 2012 sent to Cantor, he determined that the dispute involved property rights and not exemption waivers from local land zoning under the Federal Religious Land Use and Incarcerated Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA). In his letter to Cantor, Perez concluded:
According to a report on RLUPIA cases the US Department of Justice:
RLUIPA, enacted in 2000, contains a number of different provisions protecting churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and other places of worship from discrimination and undue interference with religious exercise through application of zoning and landmarking laws.
The consent decree involving mosque building in Henrico County that Perez referred to was entered into the Eastern Federal District Court of Virginia a year earlier on September 12, 2011 involved a dispute that arose over an application for a mosque in 2008. The background and scope of the consent decree created the basis for County Planning Department reviews imposing diversity training for officials and staff was summarized in this USDOJ RLUIPA case report:
complaint, which was filed with the court along with a proposed consent decree, alleged that the county’s denial of the rezoning application was based on the religious bias of county officials and to appease members of the public who, because of religious bias, opposed the construction of the mosque. The complaint further alleged that the county treated the Muslim organization differently than non-Muslim groups that regularly have been granted similar rezoning requests.
As part of the settlement, the county agreed to treat the mosque and all religious groups equally and to publicize its non-discrimination policies and practices. The county also agreed that its leaders and various county employees will attend training on the requirements of RLUIPA. In addition, the county will report periodically to the Justice Department.
Based on a legal memorandum prepared for a Brentwood mosque application in Williamson County Tennessee, existing RLUIPA case law will not prevent Henrico County, like many other localities in the same quandary across America, from using existing police powers to conduct background investigations of mega-mosque applications.
Trashed Hoehns Road No Trespassing Signs
Watch this September 4, 2015 CBS Channel 6 WTVR News Richmond, Virginia video interview with Sylvia Hoehns-Wright:
Vohra, the land agent for the ICR who applied for their plan of development, as principal in a local motel property limited liability corporation, Shree Arihant, has been caught up in a web of litigation arising from the default on a $1.75 million loan with the former Bank of Richmond for acquisition of the Economy Inn located in the so-called Diamond district of Richmond. Richmond BizSense (RBS) reported in January 2014 that Shree Arihant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 27, 2013 ahead of a scheduled foreclosure auction of the Economy Inn. Shree Arihant president Yunus Vohra also controls Shaan LLC, an entity that previously owned the Red Carpet Inn. Vohra lost the rights to use the Red Carpet and Scottish Inns names in 2012, In July 2014. RBS reported the auction of the Economy Inn property in bankruptcy to satisfy the creditors of the defaulted debt with Shree Arihant principal Vohra alleging he had two offers of $2 million and $1.45 million for the property.
revealed further commercial litigation involving Vohra, Shree Arihant and Shaan, LLC:
DISH NETWORK L.L.C. et al v. VOHRA for Unlawful Reception Broadcast Signal i.e., Satellite, Third Circuit Pennsylvania Eastern District Court.
Then there are questions about the original land acquisition transaction by Vohra for the ICR in 2011. How was it financed as there was apparently no title insurance purchased until after the sale by Wright’s relatives to Vohra? Further, there is the matter of tax treatment of the gift of the acquired property conveyed by Vohra to the ICR.
The forthcoming four-day trial in the Henrico State Circuit Court on September 28th will be preceded by a pre-trial conference. Without discovery of the underlying documentation and depositions of the drag net of witnesses listed in Vohra’s amended plaintiff complaint against Wright et.al., how could this upcoming trial begin? The outcome of which, in the absence of the facts, might result in the forced sale of the residences in the Hoehns Lakeview Farm subdivision at distressed values should the jury issue a decision in favor of Vohra. Any adverse decision reached in the jury trial would not be a victory for freedom of religious practice. Instead, it would constitute a victory for lawfare tactics by local Muslim leadership at the Islamic Center of Richmond seeking to create a Sharia compliant enclave at the cost of residents in the Hoehns Farm subdivision.
Following the US Department of Justice consent decree entered into with Henrico County in the Eastern Federal District Court in September 12, 2011 regarding land zoning waivers under RLUIPA for creation of mosques in central Virginia, a public letter was issued by the clergy association of the County. The letter expressed a welcome to Muslims establishing mosques in Henrico County signed by ministers and pastors of various Protestant denominations, the Catholic archdiocese and rabbis of local synagogues. As exhibited by the current litigation launched by Vohra on behalf of the ICR, this is hardly a grateful gesture to the residents of the Hoehns Lakeview Farms Subdivision for the welcome sought by the clergy of Henrico County, Virginia for the Richmond west end Muslim community.
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