Court Opinion

ID: 9755146
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:27:53.707059+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:03.553557
License: Public Domain

Inglis, C. J.
(dissenting). For the following reasons I am unable to agree with the majority. Under § 1033 (7) of the New Haven ordinance, no variance may be granted unless one of two conditions is satisfied. These conditions are (1) that there are practical difficulties or unnecessary hardships in the way of carrying out the strict letter of the ordinance, and (2) that the effect of the application of the ordinance is arbitrary. It is only after the board of zoning appeals has in reason determined that at least one of these conditions exists that the board should consider whether the granting of the requested variance accords with the public welfare. In other words, the fact that the granting of the variance will promote public welfare — for instance, by relieving traffic congestion — does not by itself warrant the variance unless one of the two conditions just recited obtains.
In the present case, it is not contended that the strict application of the ordinance presents any practical difficulty or causes any unnecessary hardship to the applicant. If, therefore, the granting of the variance is to be supported, it must be on the ground that the application of the ordinance to the property in question is arbitrary. The word “arbitrary” as used in the ordinance means despotic and *328capricious, that is, without reason. See Webster’s New International Dictionary (2d Ed.). Accordingly, the phrase “where the effect of the application of the Ordinance is arbitrary” is designed to cover those rare situations in which no real reason exists for applying to some particular property the restrictions upon its use which are imposed by the ordinance on property generally in the same zone.
One of the purposes of zoning is the stabilization of property values. The reason for prohibiting the parking of automobiles in large numbers on lots in residence zones is that, if such parking were permitted, adjacent property would depreciate. That reason applies with as much force to the land here in question as it does to any other land zoned residence B. Since there is sufficient reason for the prohibition of the use of the applicant’s land for parking, the board could not reasonably conclude that the application of the zoning ordinance to this land was arbitrary. See Paul v. Board of Zoning Appeals, 142 Conn. 40, 44, 110 A.2d 619. It follows that in granting the variance the board acted unreasonably and illegally.