157 Conn. 434 | Conn. | 1969
The defendant town planning and zoning commission of the town of Newtown held a public hearing on June 10, 1966, on the application of the defendants John W. Anderson, owner, and Smith, Kline and French Laboratories, optionee, to amend the zoning map by changing the classification of a parcel of Anderson’s land consisting of approximately 47.448 acres from a farming and residential (R-l) district to an M-2 industrial district. Thereafter, at an executive session, the commission granted a change of zone of the tract in question to an M-2A industrial district.
I
The plaintiffs alleged in their appeal to the Court of Common Pleas that the commission previously, on April 1, 1966, “denied a change of zoning classification of the premises . . . and no new con
We are cautious about disturbing the decision of the commission to proceed and act on the present
II
It is fundamental that the change must be in harmony with and in conformity to a comprehensive plan as mandated by G-eneral Statutes § 8-2, under which the town originally adopted its zoning regulations.
The 47.448 acres in question consist of undeveloped land at the intersection of interstate route 84 and Connecticut route 25 in the Hawleyville section of the town. The tract is bounded by highways except in the southwesterly corner of the property, where it adjoins privately owned land occupied by a motel and zoned as a B-2 business district, and except on the east where it adjoins land of Jablon and Sedor and the remaining Anderson property. Anderson owns a parcel of approximately ninety acres in which is included the rezoned tract in question. Buildings on the portion rezoned herein would be visible from existing residences west of Con
In addition to the location of the property as described, among other considerations, the commission gave as the basis for its action the following: It viewed the site and did not consider it to be prime residential land. See Petrillo v. Board of Zoning Appeals, 147 Conn. 469, 471, 473, 162 A.2d 508. The highest and best use of the tract is for light industry, laboratory and office uses. There are at present only two expressway interchanges in New-town, whereas there is ample undeveloped residential land elsewhere in town, and rezoning this tract should result in a minimum increase in traffic burden to local streets. The trend of industrial construction is to locate near expressway interchanges, and the construction of interstate route 84 with the access to Connecticut routes 25 and 6 resulted in a change in the area justifying such a new zonal classification. See Ball v. Town Plan & Zoning Commission, 146 Conn. 397, 400, 151 A.2d 327. Also there has been no residential construction in Newtown on land adjacent to interstate route 84 since its opening four and one-half years ago; residential construction ad
The record discloses that the commission also considered the application in the light of the general recommendations for industrial development and criteria for selection of industrial locations set forth in a plan of development for the town dated May 27, 1958, and prepared by Gates and Ford, architectural and planning associates, in consultation with the commission prior to the construction of interstate route 84. Technical Planning Associates, the planning consultant employed by the commission, recommended a change of the use of the tract to industrial, giving many of the same reasons adopted by the commission. The Newtown chamber of commerce favored the change, as did the Newtown industrial development advisory committee and an unusual number of residents of the town. The unusually complete record before us contains facts which support the reasons for the action taken by the commission.
Under the Newtown zoning regulations, an M-2A industrial district, among other uses, permits laboratories devoted to research, design and experimentation. Newtown Zoning Regs. § 1.5A (1958, as amended). Among other safeguards and restrictions imposed by the regulations, to preserve the tenor of the adjacent property, it is provided that the minimum lot size be six acres and that all buildings be set back at least 300 feet from an adjacent residential district. The maximum building coverage is limited to 25 percent, including principal and accessory buildings, and the total area occupied by buildings, parking areas and outdoor storage areas
Such a classification, governing the locating of facilities envisioned in the regulations to enable Smith, Kline and French Laboratories to settle in Newtown, is a relatively new development in zoning and permits, within a rapidly growing suburban community, the location of buildings for light industry and office uses and those to be used principally as laboratory or research facilities in residential or semiresidential areas which are accessible to large urban areas. In accordance with that trend, it has been held that singling out a relatively small parcel of land for a use classification totally different from that of a surrounding area did not necessarily do violence to a comprehensive plan and did not constitute “spot” zoning. Thomas v. Bedford, 11 N.Y.2d 428, 435, 184 N.E.2d 285; see note, 98 A.L.R.2d 225.
Reasonable flexibility in zoning is demanded by the increased population and burgeoning needs of a community, manifested herein by the expressed need for small, carefully developed and protected industrial sites surrounded by safeguards and restrictions which will reasonably preserve, as much as
The record of the proceedings before the commission fully supports the conclusion that the commission “was endeavoring to amend the zoning regulations to meet present and reasonably anticipated future conditions in a manner which study and planning indicated would best serve the welfare of the community as a whole.” Young v. Town Planning & Zoning Commission, 151 Conn. 235, 244, 196 A.2d 427. The authority and responsibility of determining the course of development of the zoning needs and a reasoned expansion of the zoning regulations and the zoning map properly rest with the zoning commission, and, unless its action is clearly contrary to a rational development of the town’s comprehensive plan, the courts will not interfere with these local legislative decisions.
Ill
The hearing on the appeal in the trial court was concluded on May 17,1967, during the March session of the court. Section 51-156 of the General Statutes, in effect at that time, provided for four sessions to be held annually “on the second Tuesdays of September, December, March and June.” On June 8,
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
The plaintiffs did not pursue in this court an earlier allegation of impropriety grounded on the fact that, although the application and notice referred to a proposed change of classification to an M-2 industrial district, the commission granted a change of zonal classification to an M-2A industrial district.
“Sec. 8-2. regulations. . . . Such regulations shall be made in accordance with a comprehensive plan and shall be designed to lessen congestion in the streets; to secure safety from fire, panic, flood and other dangers; to promote health and the general welfare; to provide adequate light and air; to prevent the overcrowding of land; to avoid undue concentration of population and to facilitate the adequate provision for transportation, water, sewerage, schools, parks and other public requirements. Such regulations shall be made with reasonable consideration as to the character of the district and its peculiar suitability for particular uses and with a view to conserving the value of buildings and encouraging the most appropriate use of land throughout such municipality.”