Opinion ID: 2374771
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Contiguous Lot Provision of the Wells Zoning Ordinance

Text: It is unnecessary for us to decide the proper construction and application of the contiguous lot provision that the Town of Wells added to its zoning ordinance in 1979. See n. 3 above. Even if the 1979 amendment had never been adopted, the Board's decision would not have been changed in any respect. As previously discussed, the undersize of lot # 29 is by no means unique in its neighborhood and any hardship upon the Sibleys is a result of their own action in buying the undersized lot in 1977 and constructing an illegal foundation upon it in 1980. In granting the Sibleys a conditional variance, the Board properly took into account the fact the Sibleys also owned lot # 30. See 3 Anderson, supra, § 18.59 (Conditional variances, generally). The Board's decision represents a carefully considered balancing of the interests of the Sibleys in maximizing the economic use of their property against the important social and public purposes of the zoning laws. By no means was the Board's action unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable.