Opinion ID: 1516240
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Conditional Approval

Text: PPG refers to our ruling in Totty v. Grantham Planning Board, 120 N.H. 388, 415 A.2d 687 (1980), overruled in part on other grounds by Winslow v. Holderness Planning Board, 125 N.H. 262, 269, 480 A.2d 114 (1984), which held that intervening parties who owned land adjoining that of an applicant could not appeal a board's grant of conditional approval of an applicant's proposal because the decision did not constitute final approval and, therefore, was not appealable. Following Totty, we clarified the difference between conditions precedent to approval and conditions subsequent to approval and we described their effect upon the finality and appealability of a planning board decision. See Sklar Realty v. Town of Merrimack, 125 N.H. 321, 327, 480 A.2d 149 (1984). We noted that conditions precedent, such as those in Totty, contemplate additional action on the part of the town and, thus, cannot constitute final approval. Conditions subsequent, on the other hand, do not delay approval. Id. The condition for approval in this case was not required to be fulfilled before any renovation commenced, and, thus, was a condition subsequent, not a condition precedent. Within the context of the site plan determination process, what Hall received from the planning board was an approval. Had the planning board intended that Hall go through the rigors of site plan review, it would have denied Hall's application for site plan determination. However, having approved the proposal with conditions, the planning board issued a final decision that was appealable to the superior court under RSA 677:15, I.