Politics & Government

A Look at the Dar-E-Abbas Plan

The plan to be considered by the Lilburn City Council Tuesday has some changes from previous request.

The revised rezoning plan for the Dar-E-Abbas mosque expansion that will be considered at Tuesday night’s special called Lilburn City Council meeting has changes that addresses some of the previous concerns.

But no matter what the Council decides at the 7:30 p.m. public hearing (and possible vote), it won’t be the last word on the plan.

If the plan for Highway 29 at Hood Road is approved by the Council — which has twice denied previous requests — it would still need to clear additional hurdles to get a development plan approved. A development plan would be much more in-depth than the conceptual plan the Council is considering.

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For example, according to Doug Stacks, director Lilburn Planning and Economic Development, “a site plan for rezoning is one page. A development plan is probably 25 pages.”

The development plan would have to pass standards set for building occupancy, road access, water runoff, landscaping, soil erosion and other elements. Agencies such as the state DOT, county fire marshal, and county water resources would be part of that approval.

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Stacks said approved rezoning requests usually go through months of engineering and architectural work before a permit is issued.

He also said city councils typically make rezoning decisions based on conceptual plans.

The 4.05-acre Dar-E-Abbas plan, last denied in December, but updated early last month, has the following changes:

-       A 50-foot buffer between the back of the mosque property and the adjacent residential area (it had been 30 feet). All parking, landscaping and storm-water features have been removed from the buffer.

-       One driveway cut off Hood Road has been taken out of the plan, leaving one. The curb cut removed was closest to Highway 29.

-       The number of parking spaces (200 to 192) and square-footage (5,000 to 4,800) of the assembly area has been reduced due to the increased buffer.

-       The plan shows potential underground storage for storm-water runoff if it is needed based on final flood study.

-       Identified clearer where sidewalk would be located on Hood Road and Highway 29.

-       Removed landscape detail for proposed buffer encroachment and adjusted the number of trees based on total frontage of the lot.

You can find a pdf of the proposal attached to this file.


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