58 Conn. App. 441 | Conn. App. Ct. | 2000
The plaintiff, Bethlehem Christian Fellowship, Inc., appeals from the judgment of the trial court affirming the denial by the defendant, the planning and zoning commission of the town of Morris (commission), of the plaintiffs application for a special exception to build a church meetinghouse. On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court improperly found that the plaintiff lacked standing as an aggrieved party to appeal from the denial of its zoning application. We agree and reverse the judgment of the trial court.
The following facts were before the court. On May 22, 1996, the plaintiff entered into a contract with Catherine Mosimann and the estate of her late husband, Walter Mosimann, to purchase real property in Morris. Under the agreement, zoning approval for a special exception to build the meetinghouse was made a condition of the sale. Under the agreement, zoning approval was to be obtained by July 19, 1996, and a closing was to take place by August 1, 1996. Zoning approval was not obtained by July 19, 1996, and the parties entered into two modifications of the contract. The first modification, dated January, 1997, was five months after the closing date called for in the agreement. It extended the date for obtaining zoning approval to March 31, 1997, and the closing date to April 18,1997. The plaintiff filed with the commission an application seeking zoning approval. After public hearings through the summer of 1997, the commission on October 1, 1997, denied the application without prejudice because the tape recordings of the hearings were defective. The application was resubmitted, and a second series of public hearings was held. The commission denied the application for a special exception on November 5, 1997. An appeal was filed by the plaintiff on December 2, 1997. Soon after the appeal was filed, the contract was modified a second time on December 24, 1997, which
The court dismissed the plaintiffs appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The court held that the plaintiff was not an aggrieved party and lacked standing because at the time the appeal was filed, the plaintiff did not have a contract to purchase the property and, therefore, did not have a legal interest in the outcome of the case.
The plaintiff claims that the court improperly ruled that the plaintiff lacked standing as an aggrieved party to appeal from the denial of its zoning application. “ ‘The question of aggrievement is essentially one of standing.’ Beckish v. Manafort, 175 Conn. 415, 419, 399 A.2d 1274 (1978). The issue of standing invokes the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction. D.S. Associates v. Planning & Zoning Commission, 27 Conn. App. 508, 511, 607 A.2d 455 (1992). The issue cannot be waived. ‘Proof of aggrievement is essential to a trial court’s jurisdiction of a zoning appeal.’ ” R & R Pool & Home, Inc. v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 43 Conn. App. 563, 568, 684 A.2d 1207 (1996). “Standing is not a technical rule intended to keep aggrieved parties out of court; nor is it a test of substantive rights. Rather it is a practical concept designed to ensure that courts and parties are not vexed by suits brought to vindicate nonjusticiable interests and that judicial decisions which may affect the rights of others are forged in hot controversy, with each view fairly and vigorously represented.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) DiBonaventura v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 24 Conn. App. 369, 373-74, 588 A.2d 244, cert. denied, 219 Conn. 903, 593 A.2d 129 (1991).
“[T]he fundamental test for determining aggrievement encompasses a well-settled twofold determination: first, the party claiming aggrievement
“The determination of aggrievement presents a question of fact for the trial court and a plaintiff has the burden of proving that fact. Mystic Marinelife Aquarium, Inc. v. Gill, 175 Conn. 483, 493, 400 A.2d 726 (1978). . . . United Cable Television Services Corp. v. Dept. of Public Utility Control, 235 Conn. 334, [343], 663 A.2d 1011 (1995).” (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
The plaintiff argues that it is a party to a purchase and sale agreement concerning the property, which agreement was in effect at the time the plaintiff filed its appeal. In dismissing the appeal, the court reasoned that by entering into an extension in December, 1997, the parties implicitly acknowledged that the contract had expired prior to that date. The court held that the delay of seven months after the expiration of the terms of the first modification was not reasonable and, thus, the plaintiff did not have a contract to purchase the property in question because the contract had expired. In reaching this conclusion, the court relied on Pollio v. Conservation Commission, 32 Conn. App. 109, 628 A.2d 20 (1993), and Goldfeld v. Planning & Zoning Commission, 3 Conn. App. 172, 486 A.2d 646 (1985).
In Pollio and Goldfeld, the plaintiffs failed to sustain their burden of proving aggrievement throughout the course of their appeals because their option contracts had lapsed during the pendency of the appeals. Once the time limitation passes in an option contract, the authority to accept the offer and to establish a binding purchase and sale agreement no longer exists. Thus, upon expiration of an option contract, the offeree no longer possesses any legal right to accept the offer to purchase the land and therefore has no interest in the property. This case, however, does not deal with an option contract, but with a contract to purchase land. Unlike in option agreements,
The court stated that while “time is not of the essence ordinarily in real estate purchase contracts, ‘[w]here a time for performance is stated in an agreement, a party’s tender of performance within a reasonable time thereafter will be considered substantial performance. . . .’ Mihalyk v. Mihalyk, 11 Conn. App. 610, 616, 529 A.2d 213 (1987).” In concluding that the delay after the first modification was unreasonable, the court stated that the plaintiff chose to pursue the matter with the commission instead of entering into another modification in the seven month period after the last modification
The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded for a hearing on the merits of the plaintiffs appeal.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
“An option contract and a contract of sale are in fact two separate and distinct contracts, namely, an option contract, and an agreement to sell. An option, originally, is neither a sale nor an agreement to sell. It is not a
The commission also argues that the court, could have dismissed the plaintiffs appeal because the modifications to the contract did not identify the parties with reasonable certainty and, thus, failed to satisfy the statute of frauds. Although the court declined to review this issue and instead chose to base its decision on the other arguments raised by the commission, the commission on appeal argues that where a trial court renders judgment on mistaken grounds, appellate courts repeatedly have affirmed the trial court’s action if proper grounds exist to support it. See, e.g., Herrmann v. Summer Plaza Corp., 201 Conn. 263, 274, 513 A.2d 1211 (1986).
We decline to affirm the judgment on the basis of the commission’s statute of frauds argument. The statute of frauds is a defense that can be waived by the party entitled to its benefit. Wolfe v. Wallingford Bank & Trust Co., 124 Conn. 507, 512-13, 1 A.2d 146 (1938); Booth v. Flanagan, 23 Conn. App. 579, 584, 583 A.2d 148 (1990), appeal dismissed, 220 Conn. 453, 599 A.2d 380 (1991). Thus, a claim by the commission that the contract violates the statute of frauds does not necessarily make the contract unenforceable.