142 Conn. 659 | Conn. | 1955
This is an appeal from a judgment of the Court of Common Pleas dismissing the plaintiff’s appeal from the board of adjustment of New Britain. This body granted a special exception to First National Stores, Inc., to allow the sale of beer under a grocery store beer permit at a new location in New Britain.
The facts are as follows: First National Stores, Inc., hereinafter called the defendant, petitioned for a special exception to allow the sale of beer under a grocery store beer permit at 703 West Main Street, New Britain. The defendant had moved to this ad-j dress from 445 West Main Street, where it had held\( such a permit. The new premises were more than ¡ 750 feet from the old and were within 1500 feet of the premises of a holder of a grocery store beer permit. Consequently, the new premises did not qualify for a transfer under the zoning ordinance. New
; In addition to the foregoing facts, it was stipulated in court that both the old and the new location of the defendant are in a business B zone, where grocery store beer permits are expressly allowed. It was also conceded that the members of the board of adjustment had personal knowledge of both locations.
The basic question is whether the board of adjustment acted arbitrarily, illegally or in abuse of its discretion. The plaintiff’s first claim is that the defendant’s petition was in reality a request for a variance and that the board erred in treating it as a petition for a special exception. In New Britain, the common council of the city is the zoning authority. 19 Spec. Laws 1068, § 26. It adopted a zoning ordinance on September 16, 1925. New Britain Zoning Ordinances (1953). The act establishing the common council as the zoning authority was amended in 1931. The amendment gave to it power by ordinance to permit the board of adjustment to grant special exceptions to the terms of the zoning ordinance as to use of property in the several zoning districts of the city in all cases in which the conditions of real estate relating to zoning are not the same or substantially the same throughout the entire zoning district, or if
In distinguishing a variance from an exception, we have said: “Speaking broadly, then, a variance is authority extended to the owner to use his property in a manner forbidden by the zoning enactment. An exception . . . allows him to put his property to a use which the enactment expressly permits.” Mitchell Land Co. v. Planning & Zoning Board of Appeals, 140 Conn. 527, 532, 102 A.2d 316; Service Realty Corporation v. Planning & Zoning Board of Appeals, 141 Conn. 632, 636, 109 A.2d 256. The gist of
The second claim of error advanced by the plaintiff is that the record of the hearing does not support the granting of a special exception. The minutes of the hearing conducted by the hoard and of its executive session after the public hearing was closed were before the court. The original minutes were devoid of any statement expressing the reason why the board permitted the exception. This omission was met by a later amendment, which stated: “The reason for the granting of the petition of the First National Stores was for the general welfare of the public in that area brought about by the tremendous increase in population; and it was for their use and good as well as for the safety and convenience.” The amendment in the language employed is certainly not beyond criticism. It does, however, state a reason for the board’s action. That reason was the general welfare of the public in the area. It was in-artificial and inept to modify the reason by saying it was brought about by “the tremendous increase in population.” Even if it could be assumed that this statement meant that the need for the special exception to serve the general welfare arose from an increase in population and the consequent creation of a greater buying public, the statement remains vague. It could as logically refer to an increase in population in the city as a whole or in contiguous areas as to a population growth in the immediate neighborhood of the defendant’s store. But this ineptness may be overlooked. Proceedings before an administrative board are informal. Parsons v. Board of Zoning Appeals, 140 Conn. 290, 292, 99 A.2d 149; Saporiti v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 137 Conn. 478, 482, 78 A.2d 741. It is not necessary that those who attend the public hearing in opposition to
The plaintiff also assigns error in the admission in evidence in the Court of Common Pleas of the amendment to the minutes of the record of the public hearing before the board. This amendment set forth the reasons for the board’s action. The amendment was not prepared until after the plaintiff had taken his appeal to the court. The plaintiff does not question the right of the board to amend its minutes. His claim is that the amendment is at variance with the facts stated in the record of the public hearing. He concedes that the board was familiar with the site and location before the hearing. As previously stated, the board was within its rights in acting upon any information which its individual members had and which had been properly obtained. The reason, based upon this information, was before
In this connection, the plaintiff makes a further claim that, since the ordinance requires that exceptions granted by the board of adjustment must receive the approval of the common council, the council’s approval of the action of the board prior to the time that the reason for the board’s action was put in its minutes was invalid. The ordinance provides that the board may grant exceptions “subject to the approval of the Common Council.” New Britain Zoning Ordinances § 13(g) (3) (1953). This provision of the ordinance was adopted by virtue of 21 Spec. Laws 193, § 26. There is nothing in this special act or in the ordinance adopted pursuant to it which requires that the board shall submit the reasons for its action to the common council, or that the bases of the common council’s action shall be stated or otherwise appear. The common council is a legislative body and like any legislative body can act for reasons best known to itself. The only limitations imposed upon its action are those fixed by constitutional and statutory provisions, and there are none in this state which provide that a legislative body of any kind shall state the reason for its action.
The plaintiff claims further that the court erred in refusing to admit testimony which would rebut the reasons stated by the board for its action in granting the exception. Under § 286c of the 1953 Cumulative Supplement to the General Statutes, the court on appeal must review the proceedings of the board, and if it appears to the court that testimony is neces
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
“The Board of Adjustment may grant, subjeet to the approval of the common council, special exceptions to the terms of the zoning ordinance and likewise permits under such exceptions, as to . . . the use of property in the several zoning districts of the city in all cases in which the conditions of real estate relating to zoning are' not substantially the same throughout the entire zoning district, or ini eases where the strict execution of the law presents practical difficulties, or where by reason of growth, change, development or other circumstances, the granting of the exception or permit shall not, in the judgment of said board, be detrimental to the zoning district, nor to a contiguous district. The board of adjustment shall have power to grant sueh exceptions or permits, subject to such reasonable terms and conditions as said board may deem in any specific case to be appropriate or necessary, subjeet, however, to the approval of the Common Council. An appeal from any decision of the board of adjustment hereunder may be had as now provided by law for appeals from decisions of said board. ... No special exception shall hereafter be effective unless granted by the Board of Adjustment and approved by the Common Council.” New Britain Zoning Ordinances, § 13 (g) (3), (4) (1953).