A duplex on Old New Windsor Road was the center of contention between Westminster City, a couple living on one side of the duplex and a local church — a scenario that led to one of the most complicated Westminster Board of Zoning Appeals cases that Board Chairman Edward Cramer had seen.
The Holy Apostles Charismatic Episcopal Church's main building sits near a duplex that the church owns half of and utilizes for office space and Sunday school classes.
In February, construction crews arrived on the church's half of the duplex to build an addition for worship space — a project that the residents on the adjoining side, Buff and David Martin, said they knew nothing about until receiving a letter on their door not long before excavation began.
It was a shock to the Martins, a couple nearing retirement age who have lived in their half of the duplex since 1987. And it was a shock to their neighbors, many of whom, along with the Martins, said they should have had a say in the matter before the city signed off on the permits.
At the time, Westminster Zoning Administrator Steve Horn stated that the building permit was originally issued under a special exception granted at a previous Board of Zoning Appeals hearing in September 2006. This exception allowed the duplex to be used for office space and Sunday school purposes, he said in February.
Since the addition was small enough that it did not require a complex site plan, a public hearing did not have to be planned, and the city was not required to notify neighbors.
Two days after the Times ran a story on the front page about the church's addition to its half of a duplex, Horn issued a city stop work order March 5. It stated that the building permit had been issued in error and was invalid.
The church appealed the city's decision a month later. What followed was a hearing in front of the Westminster Board of Zoning Appeals that spanned about 15 total hours spread across three different nights during the summer.
The three-member board upheld Horn's decision: The church was not permitted to build an addition for worship space onto the duplex.
"At the end of the day I'm making my decision based on what the city of Westminster code says," board member Dan Hoff said at the last hearing on Aug. 1. "And the city of Westminster code clearly states that if a permit is issued in error, it's not valid. It's null and void."
The Board of Zoning Appeals official decision memo came down to the church around Thanksgiving, giving officials 30 days to file an appeal to the Carroll County Circuit Court. Church officials have not definitively decided what to do do, Ball said in an interview Tuesday.
Church officials have been weighing their options. For a time, they looked at buying a new building and had its main location at 346 Old New Windsor Road up for sale. However, the property is now off the market, and the current plan is to build that smaller addition onto its main building, according to Ball.
"It seems that the city is amenable to us doing that," Ball said, adding that he's hoping that move will make both the city, neighbors and church members happy.
