Highland Street Associates v. Commissioner of Transportation

Citations

• 213 Conn. App. 426

Syllabus

The plaintiffs, two entities that, respectively, owned a parcel of real property and a billboard located on that property, sought a declaratory ruling from the trial court pursuant to statute (§ 4-175) following the failure of the defendant Department of Transportation to act on their petition for a declaratory ruling that they could replace the billboard's existing support structure. The billboard, which was located in a residential zone within 660 feet of a federal highway and had been erected prior to 1968, was a nonconforming grandfathered sign pursuant to the federal Highway Beautification Act of 1965 (23 U.S.C. § 131 et seq.) and related state statute (§ 13a-123). In order to replace the billboard's support structure, the plaintiffs acknowledged that they would need to remove the existing billboard for a short period of time. The department denied the plaintiff's application for a permit to replace the support structure, as a new sign was not permitted pursuant to 23 U.S.C. §131 et seq. and § 13a-123. The trial court rendered judgment for the plaintiffs, holding that the proposed replacement of the billboard's existing support system constituted permissible maintenance and repair. The court further held that, pursuant to a zoning statute (§ 8-2), the sign's preexisting noncon- forming use was a vested right with which the department and the defendant Commissioner of Transportation could not interfere. On the defendants' appeal to this court, held that the trial court erred in holding that replacing the billboard's existing support structure constituted maintenance and repair pursuant to federal and state law: although, as a grandfathered nonconforming sign, the billboard could continue to exist, even though it did not comply with state regulations, and it could be maintained and repaired without losing its grandfathered status, replacing the billboard's existing support system was not customary maintenance and repair because such construction would substantial