211 Conn. 662 | Conn. | 1989
Lead Opinion
This case involves the narrow issue of whether the term “land involved” in General Statutes § 8-8 (a),
On September 14, 1987, the defendant, Roger L. Phillips, filed an application with the defendant Salem
The trial court found that the chemical makeup of the bedrock was the concern of those at the public hearing on the application and of the plaintiffs in the appeal. As a result of this concern the commission did not grant an unrestricted special exception to level the entire 3.8 acre parcel by excavation as requested, but instead conditioned the special exception to the soil above the bedrock.
The court construed the allegations of paragraph two of the complaint as claiming both statutory aggrievement under General Statutes § 8-8 (a) and classical aggrievement. The court found that the property of Caltabiano abutted the 110 acre parcel of Phillips, and that the property of Cadwell was “across the street from the Phillips property.” We treat this latter finding, as
The plaintiffs claim that the court erred in: (1) finding, in contravention of § 8-8 (a), that an abutting landowner is not statutorily aggrieved; (2) failing to find classical aggrievement when the commission’s approval contained restrictions that must be violated; (3) amending the record in contravention of both § 8-8 (e) and the rules of evidence; and (4) failing to find that classical aggrievement is established by a landowner upon evidence that action was taken by the zoning authority without necessary, proper and adequate public notice. At oral argument the plaintiffs abandoned any claim of error in the court’s failure to find classical aggrievement. Further, in view of our disposition of the case we do not consider the plaintiffs’ third claim of error.
We turn now to the question of statutory construction that is dispositive of this case. We repeat the exact wording of § 8-8 (a) that is involved in this case. “[A]ny person owning land which abuts or is within a radius of one hundred feet of any portion of the land involved in any decision of said board” may appeal the decision to the Superior Court. For our analysis we make no
We review the trial court’s construction of § 8-8 (a) “in light of well established principles that require us to ascertain and give effect to the apparent intent of the legislature. Norwich v. Silverberg, 200 Conn. 367, 370-71, 511 A.2d 336 (1986); State v. Kozlowski, 199 Conn. 667, 673, 509 A.2d 20 (1986); Hayes v. Smith, 194 Conn. 52, 57, 480 A.2d 425 (1984); State v. Delafose, 185 Conn. 517, 521, 441 A.2d 158 (1981); 2A Sutherland, Statutory Construction (4th Ed. 1984) § 45.05. When the words of a statute are plain and unambiguous, we need look no further for interpretive guidance because we assume that the words themselves express the intention of the legislature. Johnson v. Manson, 196 Conn. 309, 316, 493 A.2d 846 (1985), cert. denied, 474 U.S. 1063, 106 S. Ct. 813, 88 L. Ed. 2d 787 (1986); Mazur v. Blum, 184 Conn. 116,118-19, 441 A.2d 65 (1981). When we are confronted, however, with ambiguity in a statute, we seek to ascertain the actual intent by looking to the words of the statute itself; State v. Kozlowski, supra, 673; Dukes v. Durante, 192 Conn. 207, 214, 471 A.2d 1368 (1984); the legislative history and circumstances surrounding the enactment of the statute; State v. Kozlowski, supra, 673; DeFonce Construction Corporation v. State, 198 Conn. 185,187, 501 A.2d 745 (1985); State v. Parmalee, 197 Conn. 158,161, 496 A.2d 186 (1985); State v. Delafose, supra, 522; and the purpose the statute is to serve. Peck v. Jacquemin, 196 Conn. 53, 64, 491 A.2d 1043 (1985); Verrastro v. Sivertsen, 188 Conn. 213, 221, 448 A.2d 1344 (1982); Robinson v. Unemployment Security Board of Review, 181 Conn. 1, 8, 434 A.2d 293 (1980).” Rhodes v. Hartford, 201 Conn. 89, 93, 513 A.2d 124 (1986). We note
None of the parties to this case presented any analytical reasons either in their briefs or oral argument to sustain their interpretation of the statute. We are thus faced with a clear-cut issue devoid of other authority or strong arguments tending to favor one position or the other. We start our analysis, as always, with the statutory words themselves. The phrase “any portion of the land involved in any decision of said board” may appear on the surface to be very simple to interpret. The core of the issue, however, is an exceptionally slippery concept. The “land involved in any decision” may just as reasonably be construed to mean the larger piece of land, of which the affected piece is a part, or to mean the piece carved out of the larger piece, upon which the requested activity is to occur. This ambiguity in the statute impels us to look at the intent of the legislature by inquiring into the legislative history and circumstances surrounding the enactment of the statute and the purpose the statute is to serve.
The right of an abutter or any person owning land that is within a radius of 100 feet of any portion of the land involved in a decision of the zoning agency to appeal was provided by Public Acts 1967, No. 712, and Public Acts 1977, No. 77-470, respectively. The legis
It Is in light of the formidable barriers to access to the courts for a zoning appeal that we ascertain the legislative intent in granting certain persons statutory aggrievement. We conclude that the legislature presumed as a matter of common knowledge that persons owning property within close proximity to a projected
Our decision comes down to a consideration of the bizarre results that would obtain if we were to accept the trial court’s decision. Let us consider the owner of a 200 foot residential lot who applied for a zone change on the 100 feet of the lot farther away from an abutting neighbor or from a property owner who claimed to be within 100 feet of the proposed use. To follow the defendants’ rationale, neither class of claimed statutory grievant could appeal a decision, where their propinquity to the changed zoning activity would obviously create the presumed effect that we have earlier described. To push the example to the absurd, only a person abutting or within 100 feet of the particular carved-out piece of a larger, but still very close, piece of property would receive the remedial remedy of statutory aggrievement. To apply § 8-8 (a) in such a narrow fashion would be to nullify its effect of opening up the courts to litigants with a presumptively legitimate right
We resolve the conundrum in this case by stressing the importance in our free society of the right of access to our courts. Only a bright line construction of § 8-8 (a) can avoid the uncertainties of its application to various factual patterns involving proposed zoning decisions affecting only a part of a larger piece of property. We conclude that each of the plaintiffs in this case was statutorily aggrieved—Caltabiano as an abutter, and Cadwell as the owner of land within 100 feet of the land involved—by the decision of the Salem planning and zoning commission. We reach this conclusion being mindful of article first, § 10, of the Connecticut constitution which provides that “[a]ll courts shall be open, and every person, for an injury done to him in his person, property or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law, and right and justice administered without sale, denial or delay.”
There is error, the judgment dismissing the plaintiffs’ appeal is set aside and the matter is remanded for further proceedings.
In this opinion Peters , C. J., Glass and Covello, Js., concurred.
“General Statutes § 8-8. appeal from board to court, review by appellate COURT, (a) Any person or persons severally or jointly aggrieved by any decision of said board, or any person owning land which abuts or is within a radius of one hundred feet of any portion of the land involved in any decision of said board, or any officer, department, board or bureau of any municipality, charged with the enforcement of any order, requirement or decision of said board, may, within fifteen days from the date when notice of such decision was published in a newspaper pursuant to the provisions of section 8-3 or 8-7, as the case may be, take an appeal to the superior court for the judicial district in which such municipality is located, which appeal shall be made returnable to said court in the same manner as that prescribed for civil actions brought to said court.”
We follow the designation of the agency used by all of the parties, although we note that in the memorandum of decision the court referred to the more formal title of the “Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Salem.”
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. The majority purports to find ambiguity in the phrase, “land involved in any deci
I see no reason to expand the category of statutorily aggrieved persons who may appeal a zoning board decision without showing actual aggrievement beyond the limit that a plain reading of the statute would permit. Since a statutorily aggrieved person may appeal, even though he has suffered no detriment from a zoning decision, it is difficult to perceive what public policy the majority is seeking to advance by construing § 8-8 (a) so broadly as to create the King Ranch absurdity made possible by its interpretation, as the opinion acknowledges. The reliance upon article first, § 10, of our state constitution, which declares that “every person, for an injury done to him in his person, property or reputation, shall have remedy by due course of law,” is wholly misplaced, because a statutorily aggrieved person need not have sustained any injury but, nevertheless, may appeal.
When the legislature opened our courts to this class of litigants, it must have concluded that persons within 100 feet of the land, involved in a decision of a zoning board were so likely to be affected by the decision that they should not be required to prove aggrievement by standard methods. The majority, by holding that the prescribed distance is to be measured from the boundary of the entire tract of land within which the “land involved in any decision of said board” is situated, rather than from the portion affected, has gone far beyond the legislative purpose in establishing the concept of statutory aggrievement. Inevitably this enlarge