In recent land cases applying RLUIPA, Baltimore County to pay $1.1 million for discrimination, Supreme Court asked to intervene in Minnesota

For the third time in the last three years, Maryland’s Baltimore County has settled a religious discrimination lawsuit with a church over the county’s denial of a land use permit. According to the Baltimore Sun, the county agreed to pay Hunt Valley Baptist Church $1.1 million after a federal court found the rejection of Hunt Valley’s application to build a facility in an area zoned for conservation to protect a watershed violated the church’s religious liberty rights under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).