BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge City-Parish has been ordered to pay more than $17 million to a church whose property was seized in 2020 for the Plank Road relocation. 

A judgment says that Saintsville, the Church of God in Christ's Louisiana headquarters, was paid $175,000 for expropriated land in October 2020. 

Before the seizure, two access points along Plank Road let churchgoers reach the 30-acre property, which included two sanctuaries, classrooms, dormitories, office space, a warehouse, a gym, and an activity center. 

Landowners said the property the city-parish expropriated split their campus in two, leaving one side without an easy access point from Plank Road. 

After hearing testimony from representatives from the city, church and contractors, a judge decided that the city-parish pay the church $17,728,323 for its property losses.