Court Opinion

ID: 9761729
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:52:29.887867+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:25.859439
License: Public Domain

House, J.
(dissenting). I cannot agree with the majority opinion in this case.
The authority granted to Stamford to adopt zoning regulations (Stamford Charter §550; 26 Spec. Laws 1234) is similar to that prescribed in § 8-2 of the General Statutes. That authority is, in general, to zone the municipality so as to promote the general welfare and to encourage the most appropriate use of land, not to accord recognition to the status or the identity of the individual user. Del Buono v. Board of Zoning Appeals, 143 Conn. 673, 679, 124 A.2d 915; State ex rel. LaVoie v. Building Commission, 135 Conn. 415, 419, 65 A.2d 165; Abbadessa v. Board of Zoning Appeals, 134 Conn. 28, 32, 54 A.2d 675; see Rhyne, Municipal Law § 32-1, p. 811. Section 14 (H) of the regulations attempts to control the use of property in the city, not on the basis of the appropriate use of the land, *301the public welfare and conformance to an established comprehensive plan, hut in the personal interest of a narrowly limited class of would-be occupants. The purpose of the regulation is to afford preferential status to certain individuals rather than to zone according to a comprehensive plan for the municipality. This is not a proper exercise of the city’s zoning authority. Vece v. Zoning & Planning Commission, 148 Conn. 500, 503, 172 A.2d 619.
The regulation also purports to encroach upon the statutory authority of the state liquor control commission. It provides that “[n]o building or premises shall be approved” for the relocation of package store or druggist permits except under conditions laid down by the regulation. The General Assembly has vested in the liquor control commission broad supervisory powers over the location of permit premises and its effect on the community. General Statutes § 30-46. It has granted the liquor control commission sole authority to approve the relocation of liquor permit premises under circumstances, among others, such as this zoning regulation would recognize. General Statutes § 30-52; Stapleton v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 149 Conn. 706, 711, 183 A.2d 750. A municipality may by zoning ordinance prescribe zones or areas in which the location of liquor outlets is prohibited; Kallay’s, Inc. v. Katona, 152 Conn. 546, 549, 209 A.2d 185; and, where the statute so provides, the liquor control commission, acting pursuant to the mandate of the statute, is required to comply with such a restriction. It is, however, only in this manner that the municipality may restrict the location of permit premises. State ex rel. Haverback v. Thomson, 134 Conn. 288, 293, 57 A.2d 259. It cannot by ordinance legislate any limitation upon the exercise of the statutory author*302ity of the liquor control commission or direct what it can or cannot approve. In the exercise of its statutory powers the liquor control commission is beyond control by any municipality except as limitations are found in statutory provisions. Canzonetti v. New Britain, 147 Conn. 478, 481, 162 A.2d 695; Fowler v. Enfield, 138 Conn. 521, 530, 86 A.2d 662; see Shelton v. City of Shelton, 111 Conn. 433, 438, 150 A. 811.
Of more serious import is the rejection in the majority opinion of the plaintiffs’ contention that the regulation violates the provisions of article first, ^ 1 and 20, of the Connecticut constitution that “no man or set of men are entitled to exclusive public emoluments or privileges from the community” and that “[n]o person shall be denied the equal protection of the law” and the provision in the fourteenth amendment of the constitution of the United States that no state shall “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” It is to be noted that the Stamford regulation differs significantly from the statute which empowers the liquor control commission to authorize the relocation of permit premises in cases of hardship, in cases caused by reason of the commencement of an eviction action against a permittee from the premises specified in his permit and in cases where the site of the permit premises is taken or threatened to be taken in the exercise of eminent domain. G-eneral Statutes § 30-52. This statute is one of general application and applies to “any permit premises.” ^In contrast, the Stamford regulation grants its benefits to but two of the many types of liquor permits, package store and druggist permits. Within these two categories, special exemption from the operation of the 1500-foot restriction is given only to hold*303ers of permits whose premises are being taken or threatened to be taken in the exercise of eminent domain. Thus, a small subclass of persons has been selected for preferential consideration in the location of their businesses. They as individuals, for reasons personal to themselves, are permitted to conduct their businesses in locations where, except for persons in their preferred status, the property cannot be lawfully used for the same purpose under zoning regulations enacted pursuant to authority to zone land upon the basis of use and not the identity of the user.
“Legislation cannot arbitrarily divide a class into two parts and constitute a different rule of law governing each of the parts of the severed class. The basis for a reasonable classification must show such a difference as to justify the division. ‘A proper classification . . . must embrace all who naturally belong to the class — all who possess a common disability, attribute or qualification and there must be some natural and substantial difference germane to the subject and purposes of the legislation between those within the class included and those whom it leaves untouched.’ ” St. John’s Roman Catholic Church Corporation v. Darien, 149 Conn. 712, 723, 184 A.2d 42 (quoting from State v. Cullum, 110 Conn. 291, 295, 147 A. 804); State v. Hurliman, 143 Conn. 502, 505, 123 A.2d 767; State ex rel. Higgins v. Civil Service Commission, 139 Conn. 102, 107, 90 A.2d 862; Warner v. Gabb, 139 Conn. 310, 314, 93 A.2d 487; Lyman v. Adorno, 133 Conn. 511, 520, 52 A.2d 702. Nothing in this record suggests any legitimate purpose of zoning which is to be served by treating two classes of liquor permit differently from any other of the many types of permit. Nor is any basis suggested to justify this *304classification within the liqnor business as a whole. Under the circumstances, not only is the classification unconstitutionally discriminatory but it is not germane to the subject and purposes of zoning regulating the appropriate use of land and buildings.
In my opinion § 14 (H) of the zoning regulations is not a valid and constitutional exercise of the zoning authority granted to Stamford in its charter.
In this dissenting opinion Alcorn, J., concurred.