Court Opinion

ID: 9757416
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:39:56.802061+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:39.307195
License: Public Domain

Bogdauski, J.
(dissenting). On the basis of the trial court’s own finding of facts I cannot but conclude that there was error as a matter of law in holding that Vincent DeFlumeri was not disqualified to participate and vote in the planning commission’s deliberations.
The trial court found the following facts: DeFlumeri owned 25 percent of Ridge Realty Corporation, with the balance of the corporation being owned by his mother and sister. Ridge Realty owned Beaver Brook Hall, which was located about seven-tenths *223of a. mile from the campus of Western Connecticut State College. Beaver Brook Hall was an off-campus dormitory for students who could not find rooms on campus. Although it contained forty rooms, housing eighty-one students when full, De-Plumeri had been unable fully to rent Beaver Brook Hall. The rent at Beaver Brook Hall was $345 per student per semester, and a $35 breakage deposit was required. The trial court found that St. George Terrace, if approved, would not financially injure Beaver Brook Hall. But it also found that “[t]he availability of St. George Terrace may possibly alleviate the shortage of off-campus housing at Western Connecticut State College until the proposed and planned dormitories were constructed by the college.”
General Statutes §8-21 provides, in part: “No member of any planning commission shall participate in the hearing or decision of the commission of which he is a member upon any matter in which he is directly or indirectly interested in a personal or financial sense.”
As a public officer, a member of a planning commission “must not be permitted to place himself in a position in which personal interest may conflict with, his public duty.” Low v. Madison, 135 Conn. 1, 8, 60 A.2d 774. It is the policy of the law to keep the official so far from temptation as to ensure his unselfish devotion to the public interest. The modification of zoning regulations must command the highest public confidence. Anything which tends to weaken public confidence is against public poliey. Kovalik v. Planning & Zoning Commission, 155 Conn. 497, 498, 234 A.2d 838; Daly v. Town Plan & Zoning Commission, 150 Conn. 495, 499-500, 191 *224A.2d 250; Mills v. Town Plan & Zoning Commission, 144 Conn. 493, 498, 499, 134 A.2d 250; Low v. Madison, snpra. The test is not whether personal interest does conflict, but whether it reasonably might conflict. Josephson v. Planning Board, 151 Conn. 489, 493-95, 199 A.2d 690.
In my view, the trial court failed to apply the correct legal test. The DeFlumeri family received substantial revenues from Beaver Brook Hall, but were already having difficulty keeping it fully occupied. The construction of a housing complex in Danbury, with recreational and commercial facilities, which might attract even a few students who might otherwise live in Beaver Brook Hall, was no imaginary, remote or insubstantial threat to DeFlumeri’s financial interests. That DeFlumeri’s vote on the planning commission may in fact have been untainted is not the relevant consideration. A personal or financial interest that reasonably might conflict suffices to require disqualification. Kovalik v. Planning & Zoning Commission, supra; Mills v. Town Plan & Zoning Commission, supra; Low v. Madison, supra. On the facts of this case, as a matter of law, DeFlumeri was disqualified from sitting and voting on the plaintiff’s petitions. Since he failed to disqualify himself, the action of the planning commission disapproving those petitions was void. Kovalik v. Planning & Zoning Commission, supra.
The plaintiff is entitled to raise the planning commission irregularity in its appeal from the action of the common council. Since the report of the planning commission was advisory only, and not binding, the plaintiff could not appeal from it directly. East Side Civic Assn. v. Planning & Zoning *225Commission, 161 Conn. 558, 560, 290 A.2d 348. But after a final, binding decision was rendered by the common council, any planning commission irregularities which might have influenced the result could provide the basis for an appeal from the common council decision. RK Development Corporation v. Norwalk, 156 Conn. 369, 373-74, 242 A.2d 781. “Although the planning commission is an entity separate in membership and authority from the common council, it is an arm of the council and performs important preliminary work and makes recommendations on all plans submitted to it which must ultimately be passed on by the council.” BK Development Corporation v. Norwalk, supra, 373. The preclusion of such an indirect attack on planning commission irregularities would insulate the commission members from claims of conflict of interest, prejudice and partiality, however meritorious, and prevent the imposition of the standards of rectitude set forth in Low v. Madison, supra, and General Statutes § 8-21. The impact of the planning commission’s adverse report on the final determination of the common council is unquestioned. The ten-to-eight council vote in favor of the plaintiff’s petitions would have sufficed for approval had the planning commission report not been unfavorable. General Statutes § 8-3a.
“The failure of the planning commission to report prior to or at the hearing [of the common council] shall be taken as approval of such proposals.” General Statutes § 8-3a. In effect, no report was ever transmitted to the common council by the planning commission, since the adverse report was invalidated by the participation of DeFlumeri. The plaintiff’s applications were therefore approved by the majority vote of the common council.
*226I would find error and remand the case to the Court of Common Pleas in Fairfield County with direction to set aside the judgment and sustain-the appeal.
In this opinion Loiselle, J., concurred.