One of the Baltimore region’s most contested housing developments faces yet another obstacle after Maryland’s environmental agency ordered a moratorium on some construction work.

Maryland Department of the Environment inspectors found the general contractor and subcontractor for Red Maple Place, a 56-unit housing project in Towson, to be noncompliant with a permitting requirement. The rule requires developments that affect more than one acre of land to acquire a permit related to stormwater discharge, pollution and stream protection.

The state environmental department asked the contractors to get the approvals before resuming work related to those matters, according to an inspection report, though the agency allowed preliminary sediment and erosion control work to proceed.

The MDE’s inspection report notes that the agency could impose daily penalties for any other work performed without permits.

It’s the project’s latest hurdle. In a statement, Homes for America CEO and President Dana Johnson said the organization closed on construction financing late last year and proceeded with development work. Earlier this month, the project received a general permit for stormwater. Johnson said the contractors are “responding” to the additional permit requirement.

“This modest building has been among the most scrutinized projects in recent County history,” Johnson said in the statement. “We are working hard to bring homes to those who desperately need them.”

The high-profile development began in 2018 despite fierce blowback from neighborhood groups and elected officials. The project has long been considered a key piece of Baltimore County’s settlement agreement with the federal government to build 1,000 affordably priced housing units in more affluent areas of the county, stemming from a 2011 housing discrimination lawsuit.

Still, it has remained a lightning rod of controversy.

The site sits between East Joppa Road and East Pennsylvania Avenue, to the east of Fairmount Avenue. One parcel, a little more than an acre in size, would be developed, while the southern lot would be preserved as open land. The project would border Historic East Towson, a predominantly Black community founded by formerly enslaved people after the Civil War.

State Sen. Mary Washington, in multiple email blasts to constituents, asked community members to call county government offices this week and demand that proper procedures be followed. A longtime critic of the project, she joined community members last July to urge the County Council not to approve a $2 million loan for it.

“Affordable housing is really important,” she said at the time. “Where that housing is is also important.”

Homes for America has pledged not to disturb the site’s small wetland and to preserve about half of the total land for open space. It has rejected allegations of causing additional stormwater runoff and adverse environmental impacts, saying the site and hillside will be stabilized, more trees will be planted, existing drainage issues will be repaired and a 100-year flood vault to capture rainwater will be built.

Neighbors have long bemoaned the development, saying that while they support affordable housing, they don’t want it to be built at their expense. They’ve expressed concerns about its environmental impacts as well as its potential to erode the character of a historic community.