Lilburn Elections: Council Candidates Q&A, Part 3

The six candidates for Lilburn city council posts - two for Post 1 and four for Post 2 - in next week's elections answer more questions from Lilburn-Mountain Park Patch.

Question: How do you feel about Sunday alcohol sales in Lilburn?

Post 1 Candidate Teresa Czyz: I support alcohol sales on Sunday in the city. If people aren’t able to buy it here, they’ll buy it elsewhere and we’ll lose the revenue.  And it could impact whether a business decides to locate in the city or not.

Post 1 Candidate Thomas Wight: I don’t care. I’m not going to buy it. But I say if it is legal to buy six days a week why can’t you buy it seven days a week?

Post 2 Candidate Angel Alonso: Sunday alcohol sales should be up to the voters in Lilburn.

Post 2 Candidate Scott Batterton: I have mixed feelings. From a personal standpoint I don't like it. But we may need it to attract certain restaurants and businesses to Lilburn. As an elected official I understand the revenue may be beneficial to the community.

Post 2 Candidate Kay Bennett: I would hate to lose the revenue when people could just go right down the street and get it if they really want to. It could be a good little boost for our city.

Post 2 Candidate Porter Deal: I have no issues with the sales of alcohol on Sunday. Personally I think we can go one day with out alcohol; but putting the issue up in front of the voters is the best way for the community to say what it believes the law should be. I will note that if other communities around us do vote to allow Sunday sales, we could be at an economic disadvantage.

Question: How do you think the zoning issue with the mosque should have been handled? Would you have handled it differently?

Post 1 Candidate Teresa Czyz: The issue has been resolved. The city has other problems and concerns to address. It’s time to move forward.

Post 1 Candidate Thomas Wight: Well, in order to have a place of worship you need five acres of land. Their building has been there for over 10 years. So they have been in violation of the code for 10 years and the city did nothing to enforce the zoning violations. They had to be in violation of fire codes if they had so many members in such a small building. Congregations expand so eventually they would need a new building. So the council made the wrong decision in 2009 by rejecting them because they had already allowed the mosque to exist for 10 years without conforming to the zoning laws. It was a travesty that they needed a threat of intervention by the Department of Justice to wake up. I don’t care what religion it is, it is proven by studies that people who are churchgoers are more affluent, involved in the community, and stable. All the houses being bought by my neighborhood are mostly Hindus who want to move here because of the temple. It’s a good way to recruit people to Lilburn who care about quality-of-life issues. 

Post 2 Candidate Angel Alonso: The zoning issue with the mosque was not handled correctly. This was a zoning and land use issue but the mayor and council allowed it to become a religious issue by some of the back-door dealings that they did. This wound up having the city being forced to zone residential property to commercial. If we are not careful, all of our zoning decisions will be made by the courts or the U.S. Department of Justice. I will not allow this to happen.

From the beginning this was a zoning issue. I am opposed to anything that goes against our zoning laws and encroaches on our neighborhood. The citizens of Lilburn want to feel safe and comfortable in their own homes without worrying about 200 cars driving by your house or noise past 10 at night. Everybody wants a peaceful and quiet neighborhood. The zoning laws need to be applied the same way for everybody.

Post 2 Candidate Scott Batterton: No. It was handled appropriately. The first time there were issues with the cemetery, so we voted it down, appropriately so. We worked with them and I feel we found a solution that protected their constitutional rights and the neighborhood behind the property. There were no backdoor deals. The Justice Department may have forced our hand a little. The lawyers explained to the council that the estimated cost would be $150,000-200,000 to go through the litigation. The city can't afford that.

I feel a fair amount of people were opposed to it because they were Muslims, not because of zoning issues. I did the right thing. I would vote the same exact way again. It may cost me the election. I don't know if there will be a clean sweep but I have a feeling like Diana and I are in danger of losing our seats. It's like buzzards are circling around a wounded animal right now.

Post 2 Candidate Kay Bennett: I think it was a zoning issue that affected Hood Road. But I think bigoted people got to the media and it balled out of control. The city never said they couldn’t practice their religion. The problem was that facility was not conducive to a neighborhood with a small street with one way in and out. A plain and simple zoning issue.

Post 2 Candidate Porter Deal: Yes, I believe we all would have handled the rezoning issue differently. I would hope we could learn from the experience, so next time this type of issue arises we will do better.

To read more Q&As with council candidates, see these articles:

To read Q&As with the mayoral candidates: