Lilburn, Feds Settle Lawsuit over Mosque Dispute

The city of Lilburn and the U.S. Department of Justice settled a lawsuit alleging that the city discriminated against Muslims in rejecting a rezoning application for a planned mosque expansion.

The settlement comes after Lilburn's city council last week approved a revised rezoning and expansion plan by Dar-E-Abbas Shia Islamic Center, ending a two-year heated battle over the issue.

The lawsuit was filed after the city rejected two Dar-E-Abbas rezoning applications, and the government charged that the decisions were "based on the religious bias of city officials and to appease members of the public opposed to the construction of a mosque based on religious bias," the Justice Department said in a press release. 

The council violated the "Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000" in rejecting the rezoning applications, according to the lawsuit.

The settlement, announced Friday, must still be approved by a federal district judge. 

On Aug. 16, Lilburn's city council voted 3 to 1 to approve the Dar-E-Abbas application, allowing the congregation to move forward with its plans to build a 20,000-square-foot mosque at Lawrenceville Highway and Hood Road.