Residents not happy about plans for Muslim cemetery in Gwinnett

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga — People in one Gwinnett County community say they plan to show up in force to a planning meeting to stop a Muslim cemetery from coming into their neighborhood. The proposed cemetery would be on a 12.5-acre site in Loganville on Skyland Drive.
  
"When I first saw the letter I (said) 'You kidding me?' " homeowner Carl Hicks told Channel 2's Erin Coleman.

His home is directly across the street from what would be the entrance to the property. He says he's lived in the residential community for 20 years and wants the land to stay the way it is.
 
"The biggest concern I believe is how's it going to affect home values? Are they going to go down more than what they've already gone down?" He said. Many homes all around the site have bright red signs posted in their yards that read "save our community, no cemetery."
 
"It's just unbelievable that we weren't contacted or even notified that that was a possibility or come by and ask what we thought about it," Hicks said.
 
The triangle-shaped parcel is already under contract by the Bosniaks community group. Plans submitted to Gwinnett County's planning commission back in July show they want to build the cemetery as well as a worship center and parking lot, while still preserving some of the green space. Nail Cubro, who represents the group, says they know there are concerns in the community but they plan to be good neighbors if commission approves it. He said they will also follow all of the rules laid out by the county.
 
But at least some who live there say the cemetery would be right in the middle of a residential community that already has too much traffic. They plan to show up at Tuesday nights planning meeting to push commissioners to deny the rezoning request.  
 
"A lot of people don't really understand what the Muslim religion is," Hicks said. "Not that I'm against it, but if someone was going to do that, they should have asked the people in the community."

WSBTV