Tillman v. Planning & Zoning Commission

Citations

• 341 Conn. 117

Syllabus

The plaintiffs, who own real property in the city of Shelton, appealed to the trial court from the decision of the defendant planning and zoning commission approving an application for a planned development district submitted by the defendant S Co. The trial court dismissed the plaintiffs' appeal from the commission's decision, and the plaintiffs appealed, claiming, inter alia, that this court's decision in Campion v. Board of Alderman (278 Conn. 500), in which the court concluded that a special act of the legislature authorizing zoning in the city of New Haven allowed for the creation of a planned development district, did not authorize municipalities, such as Shelton, that derive their authority to zone by statute (§ 8-2), rather than by a special act, to establish such districts. Held: 1. The plaintiffs could not prevail on their claim that the zoning authority conferred by § 8-2 did not support the creation of planned development districts: a comparison of the language in the special act at issue in Campion, the language of the enabling act at issue in Sheridan v. who meet the conditions under which the provisions of § 54-91g apply. This is the sole constitutional argument that the defendant raises in this appeal. 118 FEBRUARY, 2022 341 Conn. 117 Tillman v. Planning & Zoning Commission Planning Board (159 Conn. 1), and the language of § 8-2, which allowed the defendant commission to create and alter zones, led this court to conclude that § 8-2 permits the creation of planned development districts like the one at issue in the present case; moreover, the legislature's prior repeal of legislation that provided for a detailed procedure for the approval of planned developments did not evince a legislative intent to eliminate or severely limit the use of planned developments, as that legislation was repealed because its provisions were largely viewed as unnecessary and unduly burdensome, and the legislature's enactment of a statute (§ 8-2m) expressly allowing for the