New Muslim Cemetery Takes Neighbors By Surprise: Report

WEST COBB, Ga. -- The Cobb County Board of Commissioners will consider a moratorium on new cemeteries Tuesday as construction proceeds on a burial site in West Cobb, according to a media report.

The board is scheduled to discuss a delay on the construction of new cemeteries until April 1, 2017, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The move comes as residents in West Cobb have expressed surprise over the construction of a Muslim cemetery on a 13.1-acre site off Macland Road.

The East Cobb Islamic Center is building the cemetery under a special exemption granted by the county. The center's proposal for the cemetery met Cobb County's rules for lot size and other requirements, and did not require a public hearing prior to construction, the Journal-Constitution reported.

Several residents who live near the site told WSB-TV Channel 2 that they didn't know about the new cemetery until bulldozers arrived near their neighborhood of single-family homes. They said they were not concerned about the religion of the builders, but rather, the impact of the cemetery on their home values.

Abdul Amer, chairman of the East Cobb Islamic Center's board of trustees, told the Journal-Constitution that he recently met with the local homeowners association to discuss the cemetery project.