Villages, LLC v. Enfield Planning & Zoning Commission, 127 A.3d 998

Villages, LLC applied to the Enfield Planning and Zoning Commission for a special use permit and approval of an open space subdivision; the commission denied both applications.
Villages appealed the commission’s denials to the trial court, asserting that the commission’s decisions were not made in an "honest, legal, and fair" manner because a commissioner was biased and engaged in improper ex parte communications.
The trial court sustained Villages’ appeals (i.e., ruled for Villages), and the Appellate Court affirmed the trial court’s judgments.
The commission (defendant) petitioned for certification to appeal to the Connecticut Supreme Court, which granted certification limited to whether the Appellate Court properly determined that the trial court correctly sustained Villages’ appeals.
After briefing and oral argument, the Supreme Court concluded certification had been improvidently granted and dismissed the appeals.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the Appellate Court properly upheld the trial court’s rulings sustaining Villages’ appeals from the commission’s denials based on alleged commissioner bias and improper ex parte communications	Commissioner was biased and engaged in improper ex parte communications, rendering the commission’s decisions not "honest, legal, and fair"	The Appellate Court improperly affirmed; the commissioner’s conduct did not require overturning the commission’s decisions (no disqualifying bias or prejudicial ex parte communications)	Certification to appeal was improvidently granted; the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals

Villages, LLC v. Enfield Planning & Zoning Comm’n, 149 Conn. App. 448 (Conn. App. 2014) (Appellate Court opinion affirming trial court judgments sustaining land use appeals)
Villages, LLC v. Enfield Planning & Zoning Comm’n, 312 Conn. 913 (Conn. 2014) (Supreme Court order granting limited certification to appeal)