Opinion ID: 2076302
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Standing to Appeal the Decision of the Board of Appeals

Text: Before reaching the merits of the appeal, we address the Harringtons' standing to challenge the decision of the Board of Appeals. The statute that governs appeals from actions of boards of appeals, 30-A M.R.S.A. § 2691(3)(G) (Pamph.1990), states that [a]ny party may take an appeal... to the Superior Court pursuant to M.R.Civ.P. 80B. A party, in turn, is a person who has appeared before the board of appeals and who can demonstrate a particularized injury as a result of the board's actions. See Anderson v. Swanson, 534 A.2d 1286, 1287-88 (Me.1987) (construing 30 M.R.S.A. § 2411(3)(F), the forerunner to section 2691(3)(G)). The Harringtons appeared before the Board of Appeals, satisfying the first prong of the test. In the circumstances presented by the case at bar, the Harringtons have also satisfied the second prong. Their lot, though not abutting the Johnson lot, was located on the same side of the street and was separated from it by only one other lot. Given the location of the Harringtons' house, a decision by the Board of Appeals that entitled Johnson to build a house closer to the street than their house rose to the level of particularized injury sufficient to confer standing. See id. at 1288. For the same reason, the Harringtons were aggrieved person[s] entitled under the Biddeford ordinance to appeal to the Board of Appeals from the decision of the building inspector.