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REPORTED IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 2064 September Term, 1994

TURKEY POINT PROPERTY OWNERS' ASSOCIATION, INC. v. MILDRED P. ANDERSON, et al.

Fischer, Hollander, Bell, Rosalyn B. (Retired, specially assigned) JJ.

Opinion by Bell, J.

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Filed:

November 2, 1995

The appellant and cross-appellee is the Turkey Point Property Owners' Association, Inc. ("the Association"). The appellees and

cross-appellants, Mildred P. Anderson and John C. Hoffman ("the appellees"), own 1.39 acres of waterfront property on Turkey Point in Edgewater. In 1993, the County Board of Appeals of Anne Arundel

County granted the appellees' request to rezone .74 acres of their property from Open Space to Residential. The Board also granted a

variance allowing construction within a 100-foot critical area buffer. The Association petitioned the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County for review of the rezoning and the granting of the variance, and the circuit court affirmed. seeks reversal by this Court. The Association now

It argues, in essence, that

-- the evidence before the Board of Appeals failed to establish the prerequisites for rezoning the .74 acre portion of the property, -- the evidence before the Board of Appeals failed to establish the prerequisites for granting the variance and, in any event, the variance granted was excessive, and -- construction of a residence on the property would violate restrictive covenants. In their cross-appeal, the appellees contend that this Court need not reach the Association's arguments because -- the Association was not represented in the trial court by an attorney admitted to practice law in Maryland, and -- the Association did not have standing to appeal the Board of Appeals decision. We find merit in the first argument made by the appellees

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in their cross-appeal, and so we vacate the judgment of the trial court and remand the case to that court with instructions to dismiss. We need not address the other contentions. The Association is a Maryland corporation. Maryland Rule

2-131(a), which concerns civil procedure in the circuit court, directs: "Except as otherwise provided by rule or statute: (1) an individual may enter an appearance by an attorney or in proper person and (2) a person other than an individual may enter an appearance only by an attorney." (Emphasis added.) A corporation See Rule

is considered a "person" for the purposes of the rule. 1-202(q).

The attorney representing the corporation must, of See Md. Code

course, be admitted to practice law in Maryland.

(1989, 1995 Repl. Vol.)

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