Aspetuck Country Club v. Town of Weston

• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Vertefeuille
• Citation: Aspetuck Country Club v. Town of Weston, 975 A.2d 1241, 292 Conn. 817 (Conn. 2009)
• Decision Date: 04 August 2009
• Docket Number: No. 18105.,18105.
• Parties: ASPETUCK COUNTRY CLUB, INC. v. TOWN OF WESTON.

975 A.2d 1241

292 Conn. 817

ASPETUCK COUNTRY CLUB, INC. v. TOWN OF WESTON.

No. 18105.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued January 13, 2009.

Decided August 4, 2009.

Michael P. Shea, with whom were Joseph L. Hammer, Hartford, and, on the brief, Thomas D. Goldberg, Stamford, for the appellant (plaintiff).

Jonathan S. Bowman, with whom was Barbara M. Schellenberg, Bridgeport, for the appellee (defendant).

ROGERS, C.J., and NORCOTT, KATZ, PALMER and VERTEFEUILLE, Js.

VERTEFEUILLE, J.

This appeal arises from the decision of the tax assessor of the defendant, the town of Weston, denying the application of the plaintiff, Aspetuck Valley Country Club, Inc., for classification of certain of its golf course property as open space land pursuant to General Statutes § 12-107e.¹ The plaintiff appeals² from the judgment of the trial court granting the defendant's motion for summary judgment and denying the plaintiff's cross motion for summary judgment. The issues in this appeal are whether the trial court improperly: (1) determined that, because the open space designation of the plaintiff's property in the defendant's plan of conservation and development had never been approved by a majority vote of the town's legislative body, the property was therefore ineligible for open space classification for tax assessment purposes pursuant to § 12-107e(a) and (b); and (2) deprived the plaintiff of its vested right to an open space classification for tax assessment purposes under § 12-107e(b). We conclude that the trial court properly determined that the plaintiff's property was ineligible for open space classification and that the plaintiff did not have a vested right to open space classification. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The record reveals the following undisputed facts and procedural history that are relevant to our resolution of this appeal. The plaintiff owns nearly 110 acres of land in Weston and for approximately forty years has used 100 acres of that land as a private golf course. In the 1969, 1987 and 2000 Weston town plans of conservation and development (plan of development),³ each of which was adopted pursuant to General Statutes § 8-23,⁴ the plaintiff's golf course was labeled a "[p]rivate recreational area of open character." In September, 2004, for the first time, the plaintiff applied to the defendant for open space classification for tax assessment purposes pursuant to § 12-107e(a) and (b).⁵ Such a classification would entitle the plaintiff to a reduction in the assessed value of its property and a corresponding reduction in taxes. In January, 2005, the defendant's tax assessor denied the plaintiff's application because the defendant's legislative body had not approved by a majority vote the open space designation of the plaintiff's property in the plan of development. The plaintiff then appealed from that decision to the trial court.

The defendant filed a motion for summary judgment, claiming that, because there was no genuine issue of material fact as to whether the defendant's legislative body had approved the designation of the plaintiff's land by a majority vote, the defendant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In response, the plaintiff filed a memorandum of opposition to the defendant's motion for summary judgment as well as a cross motion for summary judgment. The plaintiff contended that the designation of its property as an open space recreation area on the 1969 plan of development showed that the property continuously had been recognized as open space land even before the majority legislative approval requirement of § 12-107e(a) was imposed in 1979. See Public Acts 1979, No. 79-513, § 3 (P.A. 79-513). The plaintiff claimed that because § 12-107e(a) should not be applied retroactively, the defendant should be directed to classify the plaintiff's property as open space land for tax assessment purposes.

The trial court concluded that the plan of development was merely advisory and not binding on the defendant. The trial court thus determined that the plaintiff had no vested right to open space classification for tax assessment purposes. Furthermore, the trial court concluded that § 12-107e(a) clearly and unambiguously requires that a municipality's legislative body approve by a majority vote any open space designation. Accordingly, because the trial court found that this vote never had occurred,⁶ it granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment and denied the plaintiff's cross motion for summary judgment, and rendered judgment for the defendant. This appeal followed.

We begin by setting forth the appropriate standard of review. "Practice Book § 17-49 provides that summary judgment shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, affidavits and any other proof submitted show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the trial court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.... The party moving for summary judgment has the burden of showing the absence of any genuine issue of material fact and that the party is, therefore, entitled to judgment as a matter of law.... On appeal, we must determine whether the legal conclusions reached by the trial court are legally and logically correct and whether they find support in the facts set out in the memorandum of decision of the trial court.... Our review of the trial court's decision to grant the defendant's motion for summary judgment is plenary." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Peters, 287 Conn. 82, 87, 946 A.2d 1231 (2008); see also Bellemare v. Wachovia Mortgage Corp., 284 Conn. 193, 198-99, 931 A.2d 916 (2007).

The plaintiff's claims challenging the trial court's interpretation of § 12-107e are also subject to plenary review. See, e.g., Stiffler v. Continental Ins. Co., 288 Conn. 38, 42, 950 A.2d 1270 (2008); Considine v. Waterbury, 279 Conn. 830, 836, 905 A.2d 70 (2006). "When construing a statute, [o]ur fundamental objective is to ascertain and give effect to the apparent intent of the legislature.... In other words, we seek to determine, in a reasoned manner, the meaning of the statutory language as applied to the facts of [the] case, including the question of whether the language actually does apply.... In seeking to determine the meaning, General Statutes § 1-2z⁷ directs us first to consider the text of the statute itself and its relationship to other statutes. If, after examining such text and considering such relationship, the meaning of such text is plain and unambiguous and does not yield absurd or unworkable results, extratextual evidence of the meaning of the statute shall not be considered.... When a statute is not plain and unambiguous, we also look for interpretive guidance to the legislative history and circumstances surrounding its enactment, to the legislative policy it was designed to implement, and to its relationship to existing legislation and common law principles governing the same general subject matter...." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Stiffler v. Continental Ins. Co., supra, at 43, 950 A.2d 1270. "The test to determine ambiguity is whether the statute, when read in context, is susceptible to more than one reasonable interpretation." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Tarnowsky v. Socci, 271 Conn. 284, 287 n. 3, 856 A.2d 408 (2004).

I

The plaintiff first claims that the trial court improperly determined that its property was not eligible for open space classification for tax assessment purposes under § 12-107e because the property's open space designation was never approved by a majority vote of the defendant's legislative body. Specifically, the plaintiff asserts that § 12-107e does not require the open space designation of its property within the plan of development to be approved by a majority vote of the defendant's legislative body in order to receive open space classification for tax assessment purposes. Instead, the plaintiff contends that § 12-107e(b) provides that a tax assessor must classify property as open space for tax assessment purposes if there has been no change in the use of the property that adversely affects its character as open space as designated in any plan of development.

In response, the defendant claims that the trial court properly concluded that § 12-107e plainly and unambiguously requires that a municipality's legislative body must approve an open space designation by a majority vote before a taxpayer may apply for an open space classification for tax assessment purposes. The defendant asserts that, because the defendant's legislative body never approved the open space designation of the plaintiff's property, it is therefore precluded under the statute from being classified as open space land for tax assessment purposes. Although we conclude that § 12-107e is not plain and unambiguous with regard to the present issue, we nevertheless agree with the defendant that the trial court properly determined that a majority vote of a municipality's legislative body is necessary before a taxpayer may apply for open space classification.

We begin our analysis pursuant to § 1-2z with the text of § 12-107e. See footnote 1 of this opinion. As we do so, we are mindful that "terms in a statute are to be assigned their ordinary meaning, unless context dictates otherwise...." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Lutters, 270 Conn. 198, 206, 853 A.2d 434 (2004). Subsections (a) and (b) of § 12-107e address the two consecutive procedures for the classification of land as open space for tax assessment purposes: (1) subsection (a) concerns the procedure and effect of open space designation by the planning commission; and (2) subsection (b) provides the procedure by which a landowner may apply for open space classification for tax assessment purposes once its land has been designated as...