Baltimore County Board of Appeals signals support for Islamic Society cemetery with conditions

The Baltimore County Board of Appeals on April 8, 2025 concluded public deliberations in matter 24058X A, a petition by the Islamic Society of Baltimore to allow a cemetery and funeral establishment at 7525–7545 Windsor Mill Road, and signaled support for the project subject to conditions and regulatory review.

The panel’s chair, Fred Lauer, member of the Baltimore County Board of Appeals, said, "I believe there was actual notice that the proposed use of the property was for a funeral establishment in a cemetery," and the board agreed there was no legal error in the advertising or notice for the Administrative Law Judge hearing. The panel also agreed the use described in the record meets the Baltimore County zoning definition for a traditional cemetery under section 101.1 and that the petitioners satisfied the standards for a special exception under section 502.1.

The board discussed variance criteria and concluded the record shows uniqueness and practical difficulty tied to the site’s physical constraints — including slope, an on-site stream, forest conservation areas and the character of Salem Road — and noted religious siting requirements and planned highway widening as additional factors bearing on hardship if the property were restricted to development inside the urban–rural demarcation line.

Board member William Paul Schock, member of the Baltimore County Board of Appeals, responded to criticism raised in filings about the motives of protestants: "I feel like it's the statement to be distasteful in the context of the proceeding that we're hearing because there's nothing in the record that indicates that the community is acting on any kind of anti Muslim bias." Member Michael Selmack agreed the public may express neighborhood concerns without being accused of bigotry.

Without a formal roll-call vote recorded in the transcript, the three-member panel expressed agreement on several outcomes: to affirm the ALJ’s reasoning on notice; to treat the proposed use as a cemetery under county zoning law; to find the special-exception standards met; to find the variance standards met on the record; and to grant the petitioners’ request to extend the special-exception time limit to five years.

The panel also discussed and indicated it would incorporate several stipulations from the Administrative Law Judge’s order or similar language into its final disposition: require primary visitor and public access from Windsor Mill Road, limit Salem Road to secondary or maintenance use rather than general public or employee access, require the petitioner to obtain and maintain all relevant state licenses and permits (including requirements of the Maryland Office of Cemetery Oversight and the Maryland Board of Morticians and Funeral Directors and applicable COMAR rules), and limit grave markers to low/flat markers rather than upright monuments. The board members said they would not, at this stage of the appeals deliberation, require additional independent traffic, stormwater, geophysical/hydrogeologic, or forest-conservation studies beyond those the county and state permitting processes will impose when detailed plans are submitted.

Community groups and neighbors were thanked by the panel for their memoranda and testimony; panel members specifically referenced testimony from Mr. Lewis and a nearby resident, Mr. Knopp, representing concerns raised by the Rolling Oak, Nolan Brook and Greater Patapsco Community Association members. The board noted those local concerns — traffic, runoff, visual impact of markers and use of Salem Road — and said regulatory review and permitting will address many technical issues.

The panel concluded the public deliberation on matter 24058X A; the transcript does not record a formal signed order or final vote in the hearing minutes excerpted here.