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Trinity Assembly of God of Baltimore City, Inc. v. People's Counsel for Baltimore County, et al., No. 27, September Term, 2008. ZONING - VARIANCES - SUBSTANTIAL EVIDENCE SUPPORTED DECISION OF COUNTY BOARD OF APPEALS DENYING A CHURCH'S REQUEST FOR VARIANCES FROM HEIGHT AND AREA REGULATIONS FOR AN IDENTIFICATION SIGN WHERE QUALIFIED EXPERTS TESTIFIED THAT PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES OF CHURCH'S PROPERTY WERE NOT PHYSICALLY UNIQUE AND CHURCH REASONABLY COULD IDENTIFY ITSELF AND CONDUCT OUTREACH WITHOUT A 250 SQUARE-FOOT SIGN FACING THE BALTIMORE BELTWAY. ZONING - RLUIPA - COUNTY BOARD OF APPEALS'S DENIAL OF VARIANCES NEEDED FOR ERECTION OF A 250 SQUARE-FOOT IDENTIFICATION SIGN PROPOSED BY A CHURCH DID NOT IMPOSE A SUBSTANTIAL BURDEN ON THE CHURCH'S RELIGIOUS EXERCISE.

Circuit Court for Baltimore County Case No. C-06-3734

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 27 September Term, 2008

TRINITY ASSEMBLY OF GOD OF BALTIMORE CITY, INC. v. PEOPLE'S COUNSEL FOR BALTIMORE COUNTY, ET AL.

Bell, C.J. Harrell Battaglia Greene Murphy Eldridge, John C. (Retired, Specially Assigned) Raker, Irma S. (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ.

Opinion by Harrell, J.

Filed: December 24, 2008

This litigation arises from the denial of a church's request for variances from Section 450 of the Baltimore County Zoning Regulations (the "Zoning Code" or "BCZR"), which limit the area and height of an identification sign to 25 square feet and six feet, respectively. Section 450 allows an institution, including a church, to have one identification sign,1 within these limits, for each frontage of its property.2 If multiple such signs are allowed, one may contain changeable copy capabilities.3 The Zoning Code also permits the County Board of Appeals (the "Board"), in limited circumstances, to grant variances from the strict application of the standards of Section 450 where an applicant demonstrates that its property has unique physical characteristics that cause the area and height limitations to affect disproportionately the property and that compliance with those limitations would impose a practical difficulty for the applicant. In the present case, the church wishes to erect and maintain a new sign facing the Baltimore Beltway. The proposed sign would be 250 square feet in face area and 25 feet high, with a significant portion of the sign face devoted to electronic changeable copy. The Board denied the necessary variances. The church now challenges the Board's application of the requirements for the grant of a variance. The church further claims that denial of the variances here violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons

An "identification sign" is "a sign displaying the name or purpose of a place or structure." BCZR

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Maryland Law