Baltimore County to Pay $1.1M to Settle Church’s Religious Bias Claims
May 3, 2021
Baltimore County has agreed to pay $1.1 million to resolve a religious discrimination lawsuit over a county board’s denial of a church’s expansion plan.
The Baltimore Sun reports that the county and Hunt Valley Baptist Church reached the March 31 settlement after a federal judge in Baltimore upheld a ruling that the county violated a federal law that protects religious institutions from discrimination in zoning.
The church sued in 2017 after a county appeals board denied its plan to build a larger facility.
The church sought permission to build a 1,000-seat sanctuary with classrooms, a kitchen, gym, offices and parking for 240 cars on a 17-acre farm. The construction project had an estimated cost of $5 million.