The ongoing legal battle about whether a Columbia resident is allowed to challenge a 22-story high-rise condominium entered a new chapter June 9 at Maryland's second highest court.

Alexander Adams, the attorney representing Joel Broida, asked three Maryland Court of Special Appeals judges to allow the Howard County Board of Appeals to re-vote on whether Broida has standing to challenge the project.

Meanwhile, attorneys for Renaissance Centro, the company planning to build the Plaza Residences, asked the judges to uphold a July 16, 2007, Circuit Court's decision that found Broida failed to prove he had standing.

In order to have standing under law, Broida must be specially aggrieved by the project. Broida lives across the street from the construction site.

Adams argued Broida automatically has standing to challenge the project by living next door to the site, while attorneys for Renaissance argued Broida was required to prove he had standing.

"What makes this case close is the question of 'how do you interpret that language?' " said Judge Patrick Woodward during the hearing. Woodward presided over the case with judges James Kenney and Mary Barbera.

Both sides expect the judges to issue a ruling in the upcoming weeks or months.

The ongoing appeal of the Plaza Residences project has delayed its construction by a year and a half.

Proof of standing debated

After the county Planning Board approved the site development plan for the Plaza in January of 2006, Broida, along with fellow residents Lloyd Knowles, Stephen Meskin and Joann Stolley, appealed the project's approval to Thomas Carbo, the county's former hearing examiner.

They claimed the Planning Board's approval was based on an illegal zoning change that allowed more residential development than was permitted in Town Center.

Attorneys for Renaissance, a subsidiary of Florida-based condominium builder WCI Communities Inc., blocked the appeal by stating that Broida lacked the proper legal standing to protest the project.

In June 2006, Carbo ruled that all the residents lacked standing.

The residents then appealed Carbo's decision to the county's Board of Appeals, which found Knowles, Stolley and Meskin lacked standing. However, the four board members deadlocked in a 2-2 tie vote on whether Broida had standing.

Attorneys for WCI said the tie vote meant Broida failed to prove that he had standing. They appealed the decision to the Howard County Circuit Court where on July 16 Judge Diane Leasure ruled that the Board of Appeals determined that Broida lacked the legal standing to challenge the Plaza.

In his appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, Adams is seeking to have the Board of Appeals re-vote on the case.

"My client should not have to jump through the head of a needle to prove he (has standing)," Adams said at the June 9 hearing reiterating his argument.

S. Scott Morrison, an attorney for Renaissance Centro, said he thinks the judges understood their case and is optimistic about the outcome.

"I think we'll prevail," he said after the hearing.

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