Bliss v. Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust, C.A. No. 08-1132 (R.I. Super 7/10/2009)
| Decision Date | 10 July 2009 |
| Docket Number | C.A. No. 08-1132. |
| Parties | JOHN BLISS, JEANNETTE BLISS, DENNIS PIEDMONTE, RITA PIEDMONTE, ANNETTE WELSH, LEE BLAISE, ET ALS, v. WAL-MART REAL ESTATE BUSINESS TRUST, CITY OF WOONSOCKET, WOONSOCKET PLANNING BOARD, WOONSOCKET ZONING BOARD OF REVIEW, AS THE WOONSOCKET PLANNING BOARD, JOHN D. HOYCEANYLS, KAREN BOUCHARD, ALAN R. BRODD, ALBERT VALLIERE, GEORGE SARGENT, AS MEMBERS OF THE WOONSOCKET PLANNING BOARD, WALTER PRISTAWA, MICHAEL CAYER, NORMAN FRECHETTE, DANIEL M. GENDRON, ROBERT R. MOREAU, PETER VOSDAGALIS AND RICHARD MASSE AND ROBERT ERICSON, AS MEMBERS OF THE WOONSOCKET ZONING BOARD OF REVIEW. |
| Court | Rhode Island Superior Court |
John and Jeannette Bliss, Dennis and Rita Piedmonte, Annette Welsh, Lee Blaise, et al. (collectively, "Appellants") appeal from a decision of the Woonsocket Zoning Board of Review ("Zoning Board"), sitting as the Board of Appeal ("Board of Appeal"), upholding a decision of the Woonsocket Planning Board ("Planning Board") that granted preliminary plan approval to Wal-Mart Real Estate Business Trust ("Wal-Mart") for a proposed expansion of its existing Woonsocket facility. Jurisdiction is pursuant to G.L. 1956 § 45-23-71.
In 1993, Wal-Mart commenced operation of a store located at 1919 Diamond Hill Road in the City of Woonsocket, Rhode Island. The store is situated on a parcel of land known as Tax Assessor's Plat 52, Lot 6. The lot is located in a C-2 Major Commercial District. (Zoning Ordinance for the City of Woonsocket, § 8.2.)
Nearly eight years after the Woonsocket store opened, Wal-Mart sought to construct a fueling station on the same lot. Pursuant to the Zoning Ordinance for the City of Woonsocket ("the Ordinance"), fuel stations are authorized in C-2 districts only by way of a special-use permit issued by the Zoning Board of Review. Id. at § 4.6-1. Accordingly, Wal-Mart submitted an application to the Zoning Board of Review seeking the requisite special-use permit. In addition to the application itself, Wal-Mart submitted a number of other documents for the Zoning Board to consider during its deliberations. Among those documents were copies of the "immediate site plan" of the proposed fuel station, as well as "contextual site plans" for the larger Wal-Mart retail area. (Ex. 22.) During the application process, no effort was ever undertaken to subdivide the site of the proposed fueling station from the rest of the lot.
A hearing on the special-use permit application was held before the Zoning Board of Review on June 5, 2001 ("the 2001 hearing"). At the hearing, the Zoning Board approved a special-use permit for the construction of a fuel station on the subject lot; however, the Zoning Board conditioned its approval on "[s]trict compliance with plans and testimony as presented to the Board" at the 2001 hearing. Subsequently, a fuel station was constructed on the subject lot in accordance with the conditional approval granted by the Zoning Board.
Several years later, Wal-Mart commenced an effort to purchase a number of additional parcels located in close proximity to the site of the Wal-Mart building and fuel station. Specifically, Wal-Mart contemplated acquisition of Plat 52, Lot 7, the site of an erstwhile roller skating rink ("the roller rink lot"), as well as portions of Plat 53, Lot 5; Plat 53, Lot 30; and Plat 57, Lot 88, all owned by the City of Woonsocket ("the City land"). (See Ex. 25.) Eventually, Wal-Mart entered into purchase agreements with both the owner of the roller rink lot and the City of Woonsocket. Id. The purchase agreements for those properties contained provisions stating that Wal-Mart's obligation to close the contemplated sales was contingent upon, inter alia, Wal-Mart's ability to obtain "all municipal, state and federal approvals required to enable Wal-Mart to construct an . . . expansion of the existing Wal-Mart store . . . ." Id.
In July of 2007, Wal-Mart filed a Major Subdivision/Major Land Development Application with the Woonsocket Planning Board, wherein it formally proposed expanding the size of the Wal-Mart building. (Ex. 1.) Specifically, the application proposed merging the existing Wal-Mart lot with the adjacent roller rink lot and the City land. Id. As contemplated on the post-merger lot, the expansion plan complied in all respects with the applicable provisions of the Woonsocket Subdivision and Land Development Regulations and the Woonsocket Zoning Ordinance, save the instant dispute over interpretation of the condition attached to the underlying special-use permit. (See Ex. 15; Ex. 16.)
Pursuant to G.L. § 45-23-39(b),1 Wal-Mart submitted a copy of a master plan to the Woonsocket Planning Board for its consideration. The Planning Board held properly noticed hearings for public comment regarding the master plan on August 7 and August 28, 2007. (Ex. 6.) At the August 28th meeting, the Planning Board unanimously approved the master plan for Wal-Mart's expansion. Id.
On November 8, 2007, Woonsocket's City Planner, Catherine Ady ("Ady"), received copies of the preliminary plan for the proposed lot consolidation and building expansion. (Ex. 2.) The following day, Ady distributed copies of the preliminary plan to a number of local officials, requesting written comments on the proposal. (Ex. 21.) Woonsocket Zoning Officer Robert Ericson ("Ericson") was among the officials on the preliminary plan distribution list. Id. After reviewing the proposal, Ericson sent to the City Planner a memorandum which stated that "[t]he plan meets all applicable zoning requirements." (Ex. 16.) On receipt of Ericson's memo, Ady mailed official notices to various state agencies and adjacent municipalities informing them that a hearing before the Woonsocket Planning Board had been scheduled for December 4, 2007, in order to allow for oral and written comments from the public concerning the preliminary plan for Wal-Mart's proposed expansion. (Ex. 24.)
The day of the public hearing, Ady received a letter from Appellants' attorney, Kevin M. Hayes ("Hayes"), objecting to the scheduled Planning Board meeting. Hayes's letter asserted that Wal-Mart's preliminary plan was improperly before the Planning Board because of a deviation from the procedure prescribed by § 45-23-61.2 Hayes's assertion was predicated on his contention that Wal-Mart was required to obtain a new special-use permit for the fuel station because the proposed expansion to the Wal-Mart building was not in "strict compliance" with the plans and testimony presented to the Zoning Board at the 2001 hearing.
At the public hearing that evening, the letter from Attorney Hayes was read into the record. (Ex. 6.) Consequently, the Planning Board postponed its scheduled vote on the Wal-Mart application. Id. The following day, after reviewing Attorney Hayes's contentions, Zoning Officer Ericson sent to the City Planner a memo wherein Ericson set forth his opinion that Wal-Mart's proposed expansion of its building amounted to "subsequent changes in [the] larger contextual site plan" that "do not establish a basis for requiring a new or amended special use permit." (Ex. 22.)
Subsequently, a special meeting of the Planning Board was held on December 18, 2007. At the conclusion of the special meeting, the Woonsocket Planning Board unanimously approved the preliminary plan. (Ex. 6.) One day later, the Planning Board issued its written decision in the instant matter.3 (Ex. 26.) In response, Appellants sent a letter to Zoning Officer Ericson, informing him of their intent to appeal the decision of the Planning Board. (Ex. 9.)
On February 11, 2008, the Board of Appeal convened a hearing on the Appellants' appeal. At the hearing, Attorney Hayes asserted that the Planning Board improperly approved Wal-Mart's preliminary plan because Wal-Mart failed to obtain a new special-use permit for the fuel station from the Zoning Board before presenting the preliminary plan to the Planning Board for its approval. (Ex. 27.) Despite the continued concerns of Attorney Hayes, the Board of Appeal unanimously voted to uphold the Planning Board's approval of Wal-Mart's preliminary plan. Id. The following day, the Woonsocket City Clerk received and recorded a copy of the Board of Appeal's written decision in the instant matter. Id.
On February 27, 2008, Appellants filed a timely appeal of the Board of Appeal's decision pursuant to § 42-23-71. Before this Court, Appellants seek reversal of the Board of Appeal's decision, asserting that it was made upon unlawful procedure and affected by error of law. Conversely, Wal-Mart and the Board of Appeal contend that this Court should affirm the Board's decision because it rests on competent evidence in the record.
Under the Development Review Act ("the Act"), § 45-23-25 et seq., review of a planning board's decision is limited. Section 45-23-70 governs the standard of administrative appellate review and provides that a zoning board reviewing the decision of a planning board may reverse the lower body only if the zoning board finds that there was "prejudicial procedural error, clear error, or a lack of support by the weight of the evidence in the record." Section 45-23-70(a). Section 45-23-71 of the Act governs appeals thereafter to Superior Court from decisions of a board of appeal. Subsection (c) of § 45-23-71 provides:
The court shall not substitute its judgment for that of the planning board as to the weight of the evidence on questions of fact. The court may affirm the decision of the board of appeal or remand the case for further proceedings, or may reverse or modify the decision if substantial rights of the appellant have been prejudiced because of findings, inferences, conclusions or decisions which are:
(1) In violation of constitutional, statutory, ordinance or planning board regulations provisions;
(2) In excess of the authority granted to the planning board by statute or...
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