The Potomac Bubble Saga Continues

Last week it looked as though the Western Montgomery County Citizens Association's legal battle over a controversial tennis bubble in Potomac had finally deflated.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Michael J. Algeo in December denied the WMCCA motion to challenge the special exception that allows for a tennis bubble on Oaklyn Drive, as reported by the Potomac Almanac. The WMCCA suit claimed that the association had not been notified of the swim club's intention to appeal an earlier court decision disallowing it from erecting a tennis bubble.

But on Jan. 9 the WMCCA filed notice to appeal the decision to the Court of Special Appeals. The motion will take the case in front of a three judge court in Annapolis. A decision in favor of the WMCCA will not mean that the case is reopened, necessarily. Rather, it will give the parties involved the opportunity to go before a judge in a hearing where evidence on both sides will determine if the case is reopened.

“We feel that the judge should have given us an evidentiary hearing before deciding to close the case,” said David Brown, attorney for the WMCCA.

The controversy began in 2009, when the Potomac Swim and Recreation Association sought permission to add an additional tennis court, club hours and the tennis bubble to the club. The request for the bubble was denied in a decision which was appealed to the Montgomery County Circuit Court in July of 2010.

After parties in opposition to the bubble failed to appear in court, the ruling judge granted the swim club's request for permission to build the tennis bubble, which cost $700,000 to construct and was installed last month. The decision sparked a flurry of outrage from the neighboring community members, who said they had never been informed of the swim club's appeal in the first place.