Albany City Commission to vote Tuesday on Islamic Center cemetery request

ALBANY — Alma Nobles and Conny Turner insist they have no problem with the Albany Islamic Center building a cemetery and conducting funerals in the method of their faith.

They’d just prefer the mosque put the cemetery somewhere else.

Nobles and Turner are among a number of residents and business owners located along Oglethorpe Boulevard who have either voiced opposition to the Islamic Center’s special request to build the 123-plot cemetery at 711 W. Highland Ave. or have attended meetings of the Albany-Dougherty Planning Commission at which the request was discussed to express that opposition.

But the Planning Commission voted 7-1 to recommend that the cemetery be approved by the Albany City Commission, which is expected to take up the matter at its meeting tonight. City Commissioner B.J. Fletcher, in whose Ward III the Islamic Center and the proposed cemetery property are located, says opponents are asking the commission to take action that would set the city up for a lawsuit.

“There are facts and there are feelings,” Fletcher said of the controversy. “I have always served this community by basing my decisions on facts, not feelings. And the fact is, I have heard no legal reason that would stop us from allowing this request to move forward. Quite the opposite, I’m concerned that we’d be opening up our taxpayers to a lawsuit if we denied this request.”

Albany-Dougherty Planning Services Director Paul Forgey, who recommended that the Islamic Center’s special request be approved, told the Planning Commission at its Sept. 7 meeting that 10 criteria are considered in cases regarding special approval. He said the cemetery request did not run afoul of any of the 10.

“There is no state law or local ordinance that would provide a reason to deny this request,” Forgey said.

In a memo sent to Mayor Dorothy Hubbard and members of the City Commission in advance of tonight’s meeting, City Attorney Nathan Davis provided applicable court rulings and comments by George Pindar, one of the foremost authorities on Georgia Real Estate law, for board members to consider.

Davis’ memo quotes Pindar as saying, “Where a (local government) establishes conditional uses of land under special or general legislative authority, it is an exhaustive exercise of its discretionary powers so that it could not thereafter refuse or delay the issuance of a use permit in compliance with conditions imposed.”

Fletcher said some constituents in Ward III have threatened to withdraw their support if she does not oppose the cemetery.

“I plan to listen to everything else that’s said about this issue, but the more I look into it the more it seems that the commission would be overstepping its authority if we ruled against the cemetery,” she said. “I also hold a lot of stock in the Planning Commission vote on that matter. After discussing the issue extensively, they voted 7-1 to approve the cemetery. We put the people on these appointed boards to do just what they did, and it’s rare that I’m going to go against a board that did its job.

“I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on this issue from my constituents in Ward III, and it’s been about 50-50. But I cannot base my decision on being re-elected. I have to look at the facts and do what I think is right. Now if there had been an overwhelming outcry against the cemetery, if no laws were being broken I would then do what the constituents I represent asked. But that’s not the case here.”

Turner, who owns Turner’s Garage and Body Shop at adjacent 313 S. McKinley St., said he’s concerned that regular flooding in that neighborhood will turn the cemetery into a “cesspool.”

“I don’t know a lot about the Islamic religion, but I’ve learned that they don’t typically embalm the people they bury, and they have a policy of returning their dead ‘to the earth,’” the businessman said. “I’ve heard talk that they have burials as shallow as 3 feet, and if that happens I’m concerned about the health issues during heavy rains.”

Turner said he’d prefer the city look deeper into the issue before making a decision.

“I’m afraid that, by doing this, the city’s going to open the door for every storefront church in Albany to put in an application and we’ll have cemeteries popping up all over the city,” he said.

The Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of the cemetery request, but the board added two conditions: that all bodies buried in the cemetery be entombed in a cement vault and that all burials be a minimum of 6 feet deep.

Still, business owners like Nobles, who previously owned the House of Jazz and who still owns a nearby day care center, say they fear the impact the cemetery will have on businesses.

“I haven’t researched this matter completely, but I can’t help but wonder what kind of impact a cemetery would have on our property values,” Nobles said. “I understand the burial policies of the Islamic faith are different (than Christian burials), but I’ve heard that the city will not allow Muslim burials in Riverside Cemetery. If that’s the case, I don’t see why the city would allow for the burials in our neighborhood.”

City Cemetery Director Judge Ashe was unavailable for comment Monday.

Nobles said she and other business and property owners near the proposed cemetery site have a list of concerns.

“We’re worried about property values, health issues, aesthetics, sanitation and environmental issues,” she said. “I sincerely have no problem with the Islamic Center having a cemetery. But I think everyone would be better served if it was somewhere else, outside the city limits.

“I guess the main concern we have is the appropriateness of this location. They’re talking about revitalizing our downtown district, and yet they’re considering putting a cemetery in the heart of the district.”

The city will conduct a work session starting at 6:30 p.m. today. A business meeting will follow about 10 minutes after the work meeting. Both meetings will be conducted in Room 100 of the downtown Government Center.