Hunt Valley Baptist Church, Inc. v. Balt. Cnty.

• Decision Date: 10 February 2020
• Docket Number: Civil Case No. SAG-17-0804
• Parties: HUNT VALLEY BAPTIST CHURCH, INC., Plaintiff, v. BALTIMORE COUNTY, MARYLAND, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Maryland

HUNT VALLEY BAPTIST CHURCH, INC., Plaintiff, v. BALTIMORE COUNTY, MARYLAND, et al., Defendants.

Civil Case No. SAG-17-0804

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND

February 10, 2020

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Plaintiff Hunt Valley Baptist Church, Inc., ("Hunt Valley" or the "Church") filed this lawsuit against Baltimore County, Maryland, and the Board of Appeals of Baltimore County, Maryland (collectively, the "County"). ECF 1. Pending before this Court are the parties' cross-Motions for Summary Judgment. ECF 108, 114. The motions have been fully briefed, ECF 117, 126, 140, and a hearing was held on October 17, 2019. Additionally, the parties submitted separate briefing regarding the constitutionality of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act ("RLUIPA"). ECF 172, 173, 174. The United States of America intervened to defend the constitutionality of RLUIPA, ECF 176, and the County responded to these arguments, ECF 179. A second hearing is not necessary. See Loc. R. 105.6 (D. Md. 2018).¹ For the reasons stated below, Hunt Valley's Motion for Summary Judgment will be GRANTED as to Count III, and the County's Motion is DENIED.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A. Hunt Valley Baptist Church

The facts underlying the case are largely undisputed. Hunt Valley is an independent Baptist Church that has been located in Baltimore County, Maryland since 2004. ECF 1 ¶ 10. Although Hunt Valley currently operates at 1800 Worthington Heights Parkway, id. ¶ 18, this space does not adequately satisfy the Church's needs. Hunt Valley's Assistant Pastor, Gustavo Rodriguez ("Pastor Rodriguez"), submitted an affidavit, explaining that the current location does not provide enough space to accommodate the Church's parishioners, and will not allow for Hunt Valley to expand its activities. See generally ECF 114-111. For instance, the current fellowship hall is not large enough to hold the entire congregation. Id. ¶ 31. Pastor Rodriguez stated that "500 visitors sometimes show[] up for 350 seats and 84 parking spaces." Id. ¶ 8. Moreover, Hunt Valley has hoped to construct a fellowship hall and gymnasium, in order to support larger ministry activities, and to accommodate the more substantial crowds at weddings and funerals. Id. ¶ 50, 53. In addition to inadequate space, the Church's current location has poor visibility. For example, travel to the Church requires that parishioners drive for two miles on a dark, unlit local road. Id. ¶ 56. The County also insisted that Hunt Valley remove the physical sign that had stood on the corner, directing people to the Church, for over twenty years. Id. ¶ 57. Hunt Valley has consistently maintained that a new facility is necessary to meet the Church's needs, and to fulfill its mission to serve the Baltimore community. See, e.g., Declaration of Louis Silver, ECF 114-133 ("The facilities of Hunt Valley Baptist Church are not only inadequate in terms of size, but also not at all visible to the community.").

B. Shawan Road Location

With the goal of alleviating the issues detailed above, Hunt Valley identified a property at 821 Shawan Road in Cockeysville, Maryland (the "Property"), as a site to build a more appropriate facility. ECF 114-111 ¶ 75. The site has several large buildings as immediate neighbors. A 16,000-square foot Saint Mary Antiochian Orthodox Church is located directly to the west of the Property. Id. ¶ 77. Oregon Ridge Park is located to the southeast of the Property, and Hayfields Country Club is located directly across Shawan Road. Id. ¶¶ 78-79.

In March, 2014, Hunt Valley filed its Petition for a Special Exception ("Petition"). ECF 114-3. It sought approval for a two-phase project. The first phase would involve construction of a "sanctuary building," which would provide a nursery area, classrooms for religious education, offices for staff members, and general seating for 1,000 people. ECF 114-111 ¶ 84. For the second phase, Hunt Valley planned to construct a fellowship hall, which would also include a gymnasium. Id. ¶ 85. The entire project was expected to consume 31,500 square feet of dedicated space. Id. ¶ 86.

C. Baltimore County Conservation Zones

Because the Property is located in a conservation zone, Hunt Valley was required to navigate the County's intricate zoning regime. I will provide necessary background on the County's scheme, before detailing Hunt Valley's application for the Shawan Road location.

In 1976, Baltimore's County Council (the "County Council") established four resource conservation zones. Security Mgmt. Corp. v. Baltimore Cnty., Md., 104 Md. App. 234, 237 (1995). These zones were created based on the County's findings that,

Development in the rural areas of the county had been taking place at an increasing rate and without the framework of a land use plan or other planning components; that, as a result, the development "has formed very undesirable land use patterns," that a significant amount of "urban sprawl" was occurring along highways in therural areas as tracts immediately fronting along the highways were "lotted off;" and that such development was detrimental in a number of respects, including the loss of "critical watershed areas."

Id. The zones are codified in the Baltimore County Zoning Regulations ("BCZR"). Currently, and at the time of Hunt Valley's application, the BCZR lists nine resource conservation zones. See BCZR §§ 1A01-1A09. The regulatory purpose of these resource conservation zones is set out in §1A00.2 of the BCZR:

A. Discourage present land use patterns of development and to create a framework for planned or orderly development;

B. Provide sufficient and adequate areas for rural-suburban and related development in selected and suitable areas;

C. Protect both natural and man-made resources from compromising effects of specific forms and densities of development;

D. Protect areas desirable for more intensive future development by regulating undesirable forms of development within these areas until such time as intensive development commences.

E. Help achieve the goals of the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Protection Law by enacting land use policies to control development within the Critical Area by conserving the land and water resource base for agriculture, forestry and other natural resource uses; minimizing adverse effects on water quality; and conserving fish, wildlife and plant habitat.

The objective of each particular resource conservation zone is also set forth in the BCZR. Pertinent here, the Property is located in an "R.C.4" zone, which was established because:

The County Council finds that major, high-quality sources of water supply for the entire Baltimore Metropolitan Area and for other neighboring jurisdictions lie within Baltimore County and that continuing development in the critical watersheds of those water supply sources is causing increased pollution and sedimentation in the impoundments, resulting in increasing water treatment costs and decreasing water storage capacity. The R.C.4 zoning classification and its regulations are established to provide for the protection of the water supplies of metropolitan Baltimore and neighboring jurisdictions by preventing contamination through unsuitable types or levels of development in their watersheds.

BCZR § 1A03.1.

As detailed in the BCZR, the County Council determined that certain types of uses will be permitted as of right in an R.C.4 zone, while other uses are allowed only by "special exception." Uses that are permitted as of right are:

1. Dwellings, one-family detached;

2. Farms and limited-acreage wholesale flower farms;

3. Open space, common;

4. Public schools;

5. Telephone, telegraph, electrical-power or other similar lines or cables, all underground; underground gas, water or sewer mains or storm drains; other underground conduits, except underground interstate and intercontinental pipelines;

6. Trailers or mobile homes;

7. Antennas used by CATV systems operated by companies franchised under Article 25 of the Baltimore County Code, if situated on property owned by the county, state or federal government or by a governmental agency;

8. Transit facilities;

9. Accessory uses or structures, including, but not limited to the following:

a. Excavations, uncontrolled;

b. Farmer's roadside stand and produce stand;

c. Home occupations;

d. Offices or studios of physicians, dentists, lawyers, architects, engineers, artists, musicians or other professional persons, provided that any such office or studio is established within the same building as that serving as the professional person's primary residence at the time of application; does not occupy more than 25 percent of the total floor area of that residence; and does not involve the employment of more than one nonresident employee;

e. Parking spaces, including recreational vehicles;

f. Swimming pools, tennis courts, garages, utility sheds, satellite receiving dishes ... or other accessory structures or uses;g. Signs;

10. Commercial film production;

11. Farmstead creamery.

See BCZR § 1A03.3(A).²

Whereas the uses above are allowed as of right, the BCZR codified a more arduous process for other intended uses, in which applicants must request a special exception. For instance, pertinent here, "churches and other buildings for religious worship" cannot be constructed in an R.C.4 zone without a special exception. See BCZR § 1A03.3(B). The County also requires special exceptions for, inter alia, community buildings, fish hatcheries, golf courses, country clubs, and wireless telecommunications towers. Id. Several Maryland cases have expounded upon the goals of the County Council's conservation zone scheme, and the special exception process in particular. See, e.g., Attar v. DMS Tollgate, LLC, 451 Md. 272, 285 (2017) ("A special exception is presumed to be in the interest of the general welfare, and therefore a special exception enjoys a presumption of validity."); People's Counsel for Baltimore Cty. v. Loyola College in Md., 406 Md. 54, 71 (2008) ("The...