New legislation providing community and homeowner associations legal standing in state court could provide volunteer groups with the clout necessary to derail controversial development projects, lawmakers said.
Lobbyists have thwarted legislators? previous attempts over the last 15 years to allow associations to represent collective community interests in state court, lawmakers said. Current state law requires lawsuits to name individual property owners who have a stake in the case, opening them to threats of countersuits if they don?t back off opposition and private deals if they do, they said.
“Associations are formed by homeowners to get strength in numbers,” said Bob Moore, president of the Falls Road Community Association in Baltimore County. “We?re not asking to level the playing field. We?re just trying to get in the stadium.”
The bipartisan bill would affect associations statewide, but is particularly important to Moore?s, which filed suit against a residential subdivision plan four years ago, alleging environmental damages.
Several immediate property owners were listed as parties on the suit, in addition to the association itself, Moore said. But when the developers threatened the property owners with countersuits and offered free landscaping services, Moore said, they dropped out and the judge was forced to dismiss the case.
Baltimore and Anne Arundel County delegates are sponsoring two forms of the bill, modeled after legislation that gives associations legal standing in federal cases. In Maryland, developers are “home free” if approved by local zoning boards, local public interest attorney Allen Dyer said.
“You never get to the merits of the case, whether the developer is complying with the law,” Dyer said.
If passed, lead sponsor Baltimore County Del. Dan Morhaim, D-District 11, said the legislation would also enable association members to pull financial resources and research expertise. Even so, it may not get frequent use, he added.
“It doesn?t mean they are going to win the case, but they should have the ability to say their opinion,” Morhaim said. “Homeowners? associations are the backbone of the community.”
