Lutherville Residents Up in Arms Over Potential Mega Church

LUTHERVILLE, Md. (WJZ)-- Hundreds of Lutherville residents have signed a petition against the idea of building a large church along Seminary Avenue.

A lot of concerned residents out here are calling this project a "Mega church." They're worried about traffic and environmental issues in their area and they're now calling to save Seminary Avenue.

"Fine idea, wrong location," said Garland McPherson, organizer of the Save Seminary Campaign.

The project belongs to Grace Fellowship Church in Timonium, who contracted to buy the land on the north side of Seminary Avenue.

The potentially 80,000 square-foot church has tensions building.

"This is just the wrong place for such a large project as this," said McPherson. He and dozens of residents are up in arms over the idea, placing numerous signs across the area, trying to put intense pressure on Grace Fellowship to look elsewhere.

They're outraged over the size of the project a potential strain on water wells, environmental issues and a traffic nightmare with a 4,000 member congregation.

"If you take those 3 bullet points and add traffic in there, it's just a very very poor idea," said Garland.

WJZ tried reaching out to grace fellowship church for an on camera interview but we were only provided a short statement.

The church said in part:"We are committed to working together with the community in a very constructive manner. For over 35 years, we have had the privilege of serving this community and we look forward to continuing to do so."

But Mcpherson and others in the area say if the plans stay the same they aren't going down without a fight.

"If this project came to fruition, life would be difficult for a number of people," said McPherson.

He said 1,000 people signed the petition against the current plans of the project.

Monday will be the first time both the community and developers sit down together at a meeting open to the public. The meeting starts at 7 p.m at the Sheppard Pratt Conference Center.

Grace Fellowship must submit a final plan which will go before a county administrative judge.

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