Jehovah's Witnesses Permit Request Rescheduled for September

A special use permit request to allow construction of 5,000-square-foot Jehovah's Witnesses church in the 1500 block of Ace McMillian Road will go before the planning commission next month.

The case was originally scheduled to be heard in August, but was tabled.


The church, if approved, will be built on a 5.24-acre tract of land currently zoned as RA-200 (agriculture residence district).

This is third attempt by the Jehovah's Witnesses to secure a special use permit for the property. Requests made in 2007 and 2011 were denied and the planning department has also recommended denial for this request.

"In light of the sparsely developed residential and agricultural nature of the area, the addition of church traffic onto this small roadway may be inappropriate," a planning department analysis stated.

The analysis concluded, "the requested Special Use Permit to allow a church may not be consistent with prior board precedent on the property or the rural/residential nature of the surrounding area. Therefore, the Department of Planning and Development recommends denial of the request."

The case is scheduled to go before the Gwinnett County Planning Commission on Tuesday, Sept. 3. The commission meets at the Gwinnett Justice and Administration Center located at 75 Langley Drive in Lawrenceville. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.