Jehovah's Witnesses Again Seeking Approval to Build Church in Dacula

After a previous failed attempt to obtain a special use permit to allow construction of 5,000-square-foot church off Ace McMillan Road, the Dacula Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses is once again taking their case to the Gwinnett County Planning Commission.

In 2011, the Dacula Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses requested permission to build a Dacula Kingdom Hall on a 5-acre lot on Ace McMillan Road near the intersection of Givens Road and Luke Edwards Road. On Feb. 15, 2011, the Gwinnett County Planning Commission recommended approval of the request by an 8-1 vote. 

The planning department, however, had recommended the request be denied due a departmental analysis which showed the location could result in an inappropriate amount of traffic in the sparsely developed residential and agricultural area. 

The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners sided with the planning department and the special use permit request was defeated by a 3-1 vote on Feb. 22, 2011.

District 3 commissioner Mike Beaudreau motioned to deny the request after expressing concern the church's four days of services each week would negatively impact traffic.

“This community, as depicted in the planning department report, is very rural in nature,” Beaudreau said during the 2011 meeting. “You’re talking about a fairly sizeable congregation with multiple services that will change a rural area forever.”

Now, more than two years later, the Dacula Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses has again filed a special use permit in hopes of constructing a church on the property.

In the application, Marian Adeimy of Andersen, Tate & Carr wrote that churches are typically allowed under the existing RA-200 zoning but that a special use permit is necessary due to the "incorrect, inferior road classification for Ace McMillan Road."

According to the application, the church will serve 250 members and is intended only to serve members in the immediate Dacula area.

"No commuting members are expected or intended, given the size and location of other related churches," Adeimy wrote. "Historically churches have been a very good neighbor, contributing to the community and creating a safe environment."

In 2011, opponents to the permit request maintained the church was not appropriate in a residential and farming community.

“We do not want the noise, the lights, the garbage, the rodents that kitchen garbage will bring, litter, automobile exhaust, increased pedestrian traffic in our yards and increased car and bus traffic that a building such as this will bring,” nearby homeowner Linda Stringer told the BOC. “Please protect our homes and our lifestyle and our future.”

The permit request is scheduled to go before the planning commission on Aug. 6.