The battle over the proposed Royal Farms gas station and convenience store in Hamilton may be moving to the state’s highest court, with a recent decision by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to deny the city’s motion to dismiss the case.

The attorney for residents of this Northeast Baltimore neighborhood had filed an appeal of the decision by the city Board of Municipal Zoning Appeals to approve a conditional use for the project after an April 2 hearing.

The residents have raised questions about the zoning board’s April conditional use decision on both substantive and procedural grounds.

(Among the questions is whether the board, after the hearing, inappropriately made substantive changes in the wording of the decision favoring the developer after a phone call to the board from an attorney in the law firm representing the developer. )

Last week’s Court of Special Appeals ruling against a dismissal of the appeal means that the Maryland Court of Appeals may agree to review the case and it would be heard in Annapolis later this year.

Residents have been arguing for the past two years that the 24-hour, 12-gas-pump convenience store proposed at the corner of Harford Road and Glenmore Avenue will cause traffic hazards and congestion and detract from quality of life in the residential area and small retail strip.