Baltimore County?s six-year effort to shut down a Lutherville body shop continued Tuesday in a tense hearing that involved allegations of assault, racial epithets and a “creepy” neighbor documenting the saga on videotape.
Cited at least five times with fines totaling $145,600 for allegedly operating a body shop on land zoned for residential use, Steven Galasso appeared before the county?s Board of Appeals in the latest tangle of administrative and court cases since 2001.
County attorney James Nolan said Galasso could lawfully operate a specialty auto shop but has repeatedly ignored requests he stop working on regular passenger vehicles. The county most recently ordered Galasso to raze the garage on the 10000 block of Falls Road.
“I don?t know what else the county can do if there have been violations for five years,” Nolan said. “Issue a citation every day?”
Galasso has threatened county code inspectors with a loaded shotgun and hurled racial epithets, said code enforcement hearing officer Raymond Wisnom. Court records confirm inspector Jerry Chen is pursuing first-degree assault charges against Galasso.
Until Galasso erected a 14-foot fence, next-door neighbor Robert Williams ? who has sued Galasso over a shared driveway ? said he has shot more than 100 photographs from his second-story window that prove Galasso repairs and paints passenger vehicles.
But the vehicles photographed didn?t belong to customers, said employee Debbie Jones, who insisted the business does not work on passenger cars. Several employees have left because of Williams? photography, she said, calling it “irritating” and “creepy.”
Galasso?s attorney, Donna King, said the property has always been authorized for commercial use and said county officials refuse to correct the mistake on its zoning map because of a vendetta against him.
Galasso invoked his right against self-incrimination and refused to answer Nolan?s questions pertaining to a lawsuit filed against the manufacturer of paint for passenger vehicles.
A federal case is pending. Board members are not expected to render a decision for several weeks.
