Bernards Township has agreed to pay $3.25 million to settle litigation over its denial of an application to build a mosque.

On Monday the group made public the settlement terms in two separate suits filed under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, one by the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge Inc. and the other by the U.S. Department of Justice. Both suits stem from the town planning board's December 2015 decision denying a land use application by the Islamic Society for construction of a mosque.

The settlement with the Islamic Society of Basking Ridge is contingent on the town's approval of the Muslim group's plan for a mosque on a four-acre site. The terms also called for the town to pay $1.5 million to the Islamic Society and another $1.75 million for its legal fees and costs. Also under those terms, the town agreed to the appointment of former U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano, now with Walsh Pizzi O'Reilly Falanga in Newark, as a special master to resolve disputes over remaining regulatory approvals for the mosque project.