Mosque Issue Not Part of Council Meeting

It may be the most attention ever paid to a governmental meeting that did nothing official about what attracted the spotlight in the first place.

Local TV was there — four cameras and reporters — as well as other media outlets. There was a video crew from the New York-based “The Muslims Are Coming” documentary project, which includes tonight’s free comedy show with Muslim-American comics at the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville.

There was even increased police presence and a security check-point at the door.

In the end, Monday’s Lilburn City Council meeting didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know about the city’s ongoing mosque issue.

The city will still re-visit next week Dar-E-Abbas’ wishes for new zoning to allow it to expand its mosque facilities at the intersection of Lawrenceville Highway and Hood Road. And many of the same folks who have been opposed to the request from the beginning, are still against it. For the same reasons — it’s about zoning laws and adhering to them.

And since the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting was removed from the agenda, there was not one word spoken in open meeting on the controversial subject. Instead, staff members remained in the city hall auditorium afterward to talk to residents.

Last week, the city announced that a  will be held Tuesday, Aug. 16. The city said in a released statement that it was doing so due to "recent developments in the federal litigation with Dar-E-Abbas, and upon advice of legal counsel."

In the nearly two years since Dar-E-Abbas first requested a zoning change, the City Council has denied the applications twice, the mosque has filed federal suit claiming religious discrimination and the Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation into the matter.

On Monday, city attorney Richard Carothers and other staff members declined to comment on the issue, saying that next week’s public hearing and subsequent vote will allow for that.

Opponents felt they were unfairly not allowed a public outlet to voice their opinion.

Angel Alonso, an oft-quoted opponent of the mosque expansion, challenged Lilburn Director of Planning and Economic Development Doug Stacks after the meeting, saying residents have not been sufficiently allowed to speak out about the next scheduled zoning consideration.

“[The zoning request has] come in front you and in front of this city council and the mayor and all three times all the issues have not been answered,” Alonso said. “There’s still sewage. Water runoff. There’s still a lot of traffic concerns coming down the street. And we want these things answered before the 16th.”

Hasan Mirza, a founding member of the Lilburn mosque, quietly attended the meeting Monday.

“We sat peacefully in the back of the meeting today,” he said. “[It’s frustrating because] we are wasting time and money on this case.”

The “200 to 300” opponents who were rumored via email to attend and picket Monday’s meeting never materialized. And other than a handful of post-meeting television interviews to gauge opinions there was little concerted activity.

The regular City Council meeting dealt with a long line of other business items, including the city’s new $10-per-month trash removal fee, a revamped business tax formula and $70,000 in SPLOST money to go to design and engineering services for the Main Street project. But Dar-E-Abbas was not an agenda item. It never was intended to be.

Correspondent Alex Casillas contributed to this report.