Title: In re Sardi

State: vermont

Issuer: Vermont Supreme Court

Document:

In re Sardi (99-069); 170 Vt. 623; 751 A.2d 772

[Filed 17-Mar-2000]

                                 ENTRY ORDER

                       SUPREME COURT DOCKET NO. 99-069

                             DECEMBER TERM, 1999

In re Appeal of Vincent and            }	APPEALED FROM:
June Sardi, et al.	               }
			               }
     	                               }	Environmental Court
                                       }	
                                       }
                                       }	DOCKET NO. 148 & 155-9-97 Vtec	

             In the above-entitled cause, the Clerk will enter:

       Neighbors challenge the Environmental Court's decision that upheld a
  conditional use permit  granted to applicant Trailside Ski Club of New
  Jersey, Inc. They contend that the proposed facility is  a private club,
  rather than a lodge, and therefore, applicant should not be allowed to use
  the site as  proposed.  They also argue that, if the facility is a lodge,
  it cannot comply with the requirements of  the conditional use permit.  We
  affirm.

       Applicant is a non-profit New Jersey corporation established in 1964
  to foster and encourage  skiing.  Since that time, its members have
  traveled to Vermont to ski and have rented various  overnight
  accommodations in the Sugarbush area.  In January 1997, applicant purchased
  an  undeveloped 3.4 acre lot in a Rural Residential District (R-2) in
  Warren, Vermont.  Applicant's goal  is to create overnight accommodations
  for its members.  The proposed facility will be primarily used  on weekends
  during the ski season.  Neighbors are a group of individuals concerned that
  their nearby  properties will be adversely affected by applicant's proposed
  development and use of the property.

       In April 1997, applicant applied for a permit to build an
  eight-bedroom, single-family house.   The Zoning Administrator denied the
  application and responded that the proposed use more  appropriately fell
  under the definition of a ski lodge, thus requiring a conditional use
  permit.   Applicant revised its application and obtained site plan approval
  from the planning commission and  a conditional use permit from the zoning
  board of adjustment.  Neighbors sought review of both the  site plan
  approval and the conditional use permit from the environmental court.  The
  court first  determined that the proposed facility was appropriately
  classified as a lodge and granted summary  judgment to applicant. 
  Following a de novo hearing on the merits of the application, the court 
  granted site plan approval subject to certain requirements such as driveway
  maintenance and  vegetated buffer zones, but denied conditional use
  approval due to the inadequacy of the 

 

  proposed  septic system.  At a reconsideration hearing, the environmental
  court reviewed the septic  and well system design and granted the
  conditional use approval with additional conditions imposed  relating to
  the septic system.
	
       Our review of environmental court decisions is deferential.  See
  Badger v. Town of  Ferrisburgh, 168 Vt. 37, 39,