Lilburn Mosque Promises Buffer of Woods for Adjacent Neighborhoods

LILBURN, Ga. -- One of the leaders of Lilburn's Dar-E-Abbas Mosque said Monday night that existing trees would be preserved as a buffer of 200 feet between the mosque's proposed expansion and adjacent homes.

More than three acres of land "will be undisturbed, there'll be a big buffer, all natural, it will stay as it is," said Wasi Zaidi.

The congregation, comprised of 90 families, wants to build a 20,000-square-foot mosque, plus a gym, cemetery and parking lot, on part of eight acres of residential-zoned woods that are next to single-family-home neighborhoods, at Lawrenceville Highway and Hood Road.

The congregation has outgrown the small, old house on the property. Fourteen families began meeting there in November, 1998. Zaidi is one of the founding members.

The Lilburn City Council is scheduled to vote on the mosque's requested zoning changes Wednesday.

Zaidi said the mosque wants to keep the existing residential zoning on the part of the property that is closest to the adjacent residential neighborhoods -- a buffer of three to four acres.

The mosque wants the rest of the eight acres closest to Lawrenceville Highway zoned or rezoned to allow for the expansion.

"If they [homeowners] want to see the cemetery, they'll have to, literally, walk into the property to look at the cemetery. They [won't] see it from their backyards," Zaidi promised. 

Zaidi said the congregation is willing to do anything possible to please the homeowners.

"If they want us to move [the cemetery] around some" to another part of the mosque's property, "we are flexible, yes.... We are part of Lilburn for the past 12 years.... We love our neighbor. So we're going to do whatever we have to do to make it right."

Members of the congregation, and nearby homeowners, have not been talking with each other. But they've been talking to the city extensively about their differences.

Last Thursday night, the Lilburn Planning Commission sided with homeowners and recommended that the City Council reject the mosque's plans.

"This is a land-use planning issue, and not a religious issue," said one of the planning commissioners, Lawrence Kahn. "We really have to focus on our current land-use plan, and the future of Lilburn."

The vote to recommend denial was 4-0. The hundreds of homeowners at the meeting applauded and cheered.

Just before the vote last week, homeowners who live closest to the property told 11Alive News they don't believe there is any way they could live with the mosque's expansion plans; they are convinced that the expansion would destroy their quiet, woodsy backyards, and drive down their property values.

"It's not about the mosque," said Betty Callis. "We don't want anything but a residential area" on that residential-zoned property.

"It's zoned residential, it should be kept residential," said Ilene Strongin-Garry.

"This is nothing against religion," said Lorraine Lobos. "This is about taking away from me my rights... as a homeowner.... If I knew that this [possible rezoning and mosque expansion] was going to happen, I would, definitely, not have invested all my savings that I've been working so hard for, for years" to buy the house she now owns.

The attorney for the mosque, Doug Dillard, has said that an independent consultant, selected and hired by the City of Lilburn, concluded that the mosque's plans do not violate city ordinances or state law, and that therefore the plans should be approved.

Whichever side loses the vote Wednesday night is expected to sue, and ask the courts to decide.