777 Residential, LLC v. Metropolitan District Commission

Citations

• 336 Conn. 819

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 7-249), after the acquisition or construction of a sewerage system, a municipality's water pollution control authority may levy benefit assessments on the owners of properties and buildings that are benefited thereby, and ''[b]enefits to buildings or structures constructed or expanded after the initial assessment may be assessed as if the new or expanded buildings or structures had existed at the time of the initial assessment.'' The listing of justices reflects their seniority status on this court as of the date of oral argument. 820 JUNE, 2021 336 Conn. 819 777 Residential, LLC v. Metropolitan District Commission The plaintiff appealed to the trial court, challenging a supplemental sewerage benefit assessment levied pursuant to § 7-249 by the defendant, the Metropolitan District Commission, against certain real property owned by the plaintiff after the plaintiff converted a commercial office building on the property into a 285 unit residential condominium community. The plaintiff claimed that the defendant lacked authority to levy the supplemental assessment, reasoning that, since the initial assessment against the owners of the property when it was a two-story building in 1849, there had been no new construction or expansion of the building or structures on the property, as required by § 7-249 for the levying of a supplemental assessment. The plaintiff further claimed that the defendant violated § 7-249 by using a different method for calculating the supplemental assessment than was used for calculating the initial assessment. The parties filed motions for summary judgment with respect to the issue of whether the defendant had authority to levy the challenged assessment. The trial court denied the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment and granted the defendant's motion, agreeing with the defendant that the creation of the residential units constituted the construction of structures within the meaning of § 7-249, thereby author- izing it t