Court Opinion

ID: 9759601
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 00:21:33.305581+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:03.196888
License: Public Domain

*448Daly, C. J.
(dissenting). For the following reasons I am unable to agree with the majority. As found by the trial court, the town retained the services of professional planners to prepare a plan of development and in August, 1955, adopted the plan proposed by them. The total land area recommended in the plan for four small shopping centers was thirty acres. The minutes of the meetings of the zoning commission held prior to the public hearing disclose the following facts: At a meeting on October 3,1955, a petition and map for a change of zone from residence A to light industry and business was discussed, and it was “the consensus of the [commission] to have Mr. [Jack] Frouge appear and explain the area more fully, particularly with the thought of land use, residences, etc.” At a meeting on October 4, 1955, Frouge appeared. He presented a plot plan of forty-three acres. He stated that he “would like the area a Regional Shopping Center rather than a Neighborhood, or Residence X type.” At a meeting on January 10, 1956, Thomas Frouge and Henry Marquardt presented a drawing of the proposed “Shopping Park” and discussed the entrances, esplanade, lighting, traffic, buildings and tunnels at length. Thomas Frouge “was asked to present a formal petition giving boundaries, buffered areas, building (character of) and a plot plan.” At a meeting on January 31,1956, Frederick Ehrsam presented for Thomas Frouge a “petition for a change of zone (in the area described).” Ehrsam said that “any changes or suggestions by the Board or Engineer would be acceptable to Mr. Frouge.” At that meeting the commission decided that “[t]he parking areas affected will also have to be provided for in the call”; that “[t]he green belt buffer area on the South would have to be 50 feet and a *449building would have to be 150 feet from the edge of the brook on the southern boundary”; and that “[o]n the Northern boundary a buffer might not be necessary as the Board felt that the Parkway itself is a Buffer.” The commission “decided to meet on Sunday morning at 10 o’clock together with the Town Engineer to go over the property.” At another meeting held on February 7, 1956, the first item on the agenda was the Frouge petition. The boundaries, parking areas and amendments were discussed at length. The commission “decided that the Green Belt be maintained and supplemented whenever necessary by plantings.” It was also decided that “the Green Belt would not be less than 50 feet.” There was discussion of drainage and water. It was decided “to hold the hearing during the week of the 26th of February.” At the public hearing many residents of the neighborhood stated their objections.
This was the Frouges’ petition for a large regional shopping center. The public hearing was had merely to comply with a statutory requirement. What the commission did after the public hearing was not an “ultimate decision” on a tentative form of the Frouges’ proposals. All of the conditions were agreed to by the commission before the public hearing. The change was not in accordance with the comprehensive plan adopted in August, 1955. Compliance with the statutory procedure is a prerequisite to any valid change in zonal boundaries. The commission was required to hold a public hearing. Couch v. Zoning Commission, 141 Conn. 349, 356, 106 A.2d 173. The ultimate decision to grant the petition had to await the hearing, at which the public were privileged to express themselves. Id. 357. The holding of the many meetings, with rep*450resentatives of the petitioners present at the invitation of the commission, is clearly shown by the minutes to have been for the purpose of agreeing upon conditions upon which the petition would be granted. As these conditions were incorporated in the favorable action taken by the commission on March 1, 1956, the conduct of the commission is open to criticism. Mills v. Town Plan & Zoning Commission, 145 Conn. 237, 241, 140 A.2d 871. “The modification of zoning regulations partakes of the nature of a legislative proceeding; nevertheless, it is not legislative in the broad sense; on the contrary, the power emanates from a specific grant and the manner of its exercise is limited. The mode of exercising the power thus expressly granted must be reasonable. The exercise of power of that nature, whether it be denominated legislative or quasi-judicial, should command the highest public confidence, since zoning restrictions limit a person’s free use of his real estate in the interest of the general public good. Anything which tends to weaken public confidence and to undermine the sense of security of individual rights which a citizen is entitled to feel is against public policy.” Mills v. Town Plan & Zoning Commission, 144 Conn. 493, 498, 134 A.2d 250. The action of the commission was clearly unreasonable and arbitrary.