Turn lanes not required for new Muslim cemetery in North Stafford

A new cemetery to be built on Garrisonville Road won’t have turn lanes into the property.

Original plans for the All Muslim Association of America cemetery slated to go in just west of Joshua Road included installing turn lanes onto Garrisonville Road’s property.

Turn lanes are usually required by county ordinance whenever land is being developed on a high-traffic street. But the Stafford County Board of Supervisors recently voted to grant a waiver to the Muslim association that would relieve them of paying for the addition of those turn lanes.

According to information from Stafford County, the decision to grant relief was made based on research that showed that such turn lanes may be unnecessary due to the lack of traffic the cemetery may get.

Stafford reviewed data provided by the Institute of Transportation Engineers via their Trip Generation Manual. According to that data, while a typical cemetery generates 181 vehicles per day, this may not be the case for the new cemetery.

Observations made at the Muslim association’s existing cemetery on Brooke Road in Stafford County, about 15 miles from where the new cemetery will go, found about 20 vehicles per day visit that cemetery.

Due to that information, the board voted 5-0 to not require the turn lanes.

The cemetery development has been a constant source of controversy for the county since 2015 when the association bought the land. Since then, the association had to deal with changes in ordinances that stymied the cemetery development and led to lawsuits filed by the association and the U.S. Department of Justice against Stafford County.

That lawsuit between Stafford County and the Muslim Association of America is ongoing.