(Updated) Lilburn Will Re-Visit Mosque Plan

The City of Lilburn will reconsider the zoning application it previously denied from a local mosque seeking to expand its facilities on Lawrenceville Highway.

In a press release emailed Thursday morning, City Manager Bill Johnsa said:

“Based upon recent developments in the federal litigation with Dar-E-Abbas, and upon advice of legal counsel, the City of Lilburn has determined to reconsider the zoning application of Dar-E-Abbas, as was generally proposed in December of 2010.”

The matter will be taken up in a City Council meeting on Aug. 16 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will include a public hearing. A work session precedes the meeting at 6:30 p.m.

(Editor's note: click on attached pdf to see the latest zoning plan dated July 6 by Precision Planning, Inc.)

Dar-E-Abbas has a pending federal lawsuit against the city that claims discrimination in the city council’s denial of its zoning requests — first in December, 2009, then this past December.

Dar-E-Abbas’ original plan asked for approval of eight acres at Lawrenceville Highway and Hood Road (it currently owns 1.4 acres there) for expansion that included a 20,000 square foot mosque. To do that, much of the land would have to be rezoned from residential to commercial.

The request was turned down and the mosque — referred to as A.G.A. Islamic Organization, Inc. in its lawsuit — sued.

This past December, it presented a scaled-back plan on about four acres that its lawyers called a compromise. But it also was turned down, although the council voted 2-2 (a majority was needed for approval). A week prior to that meeting, the city’s planning commission recommended denial because it thought the site plan still was not a workable one.

The plan City Council will consider in two weeks is updated slightly from the December, 2010 submission and addresses "some of the concerns stated at the previous hearing," said Lilburn's Director of Planning and Economic Development Doug Stacks.

Johnsa said city staff cannot comment on the pending case. Copies of the mosque plan are available upon request at the Planning and Zoning Office.