Compromise over school’s athletic tent

Residents of Towson, Md., have agreed to drop pending litigation against the athletic tent at Baltimore Lutheran School in Towson, the Baltimore Examiner reports. Neighbors of the school have said they will withdraw a zoning appeal as well as nuisance and property-value lawsuits concerning the five-story tent that has brought the school more flexible event space. School administrators have said they will meet some of the neighbors’ requests by installing a fence and planting cypress trees to shield the tent.

Baltimore County approved the structure in 2004, and a heated battle ensued. Residents set up a Web site to criticize the tent, and a man was arrested during a protest last August. Neighbors were unhappy with illegal parking in their streets and with students being disruptive after events for which the tent was rented out.

Doug DesMarais, president of the Chatterleigh Community Association, told the Examiner that the community had begun a “new era” of cooperation. “Both sides have been committed to finding a mutually acceptable resolution,” he said.