Cadoux v. Planning and Zoning Commission of Town of Weston

• Decision Date: 08 February 1972
• Citation: 162 Conn. 425,54 A.L.R.3d 1278,294 A.2d 582
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: , 54 A.L.R.3d 1278 Edmond CADOUX v. PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION OF the TOWN OF WESTON.

Page 582

294 A.2d 582

162 Conn. 425, 54 A.L.R.3d 1278

Edmond CADOUX v. PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION OF the TOWN OF WESTON.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Feb. 8, 1972.

Certiorari Denied June 26, 1972. See 92 S.Ct. 2496.

Melvin J. Silverman, Norwalk, with whom, on the brief, was Max R. Lepofsky, Norwalk, for appellant (plaintiff).

Robert M. Wechsler, Stamford, with whom were Bernard Glazer, Stamford, and, on the brief, Harvey J. Rothberg, Stamford, for appellee (defendant).

Before HOUSE, C.J., and THIM, RYAN, SHAPIRO and LOISELLE, JJ.

RYAN, Justice.

On May 17, 1967, the plaintiff filed an application with the defendant commission for an amendment of the zoning regulations establishing a town shopping center district. The proposed amendment would authorize the use of property within the proposed district for stores and other buildings where goods are sold or service is rendered primarily at retail, business and professional offices, banks and other financial institutions, restaurants and other food service establishments where customers are served only when seated and within an enclosed building, including a food takeout service incidental to the primary permitted use. The application was denied and the plaintiff appealed to the Court of Common Pleas, where the appeal was dismissed. From the judgment rendered thereon he has appealed to this court.

The plaintiff's principal claim of error is that the zoning regulations of the town of Weston purport to bar from within the town the use of property for the conduct of ordinary commercial activities unless such activities consist of farming or can be considered customary home occupations. The plaintiff urges that since there is only one district for the entire town the regulations are illegal and arbitrary.

The zoning regulations of the town of Weston as amended to August 21, 1967, provide, in pertinent part, as follows: 'Section 3-Districts. Inasmuch as existing commercial and industrial uses are adequate to serve the needs and public welfare of the Town of Weston, and a careful and comprehensive survey of the Town discloses no district within its boundaries which can be set aside for commercial or industrial uses without contravening one or more of the purposes of zoning as set forth in Chapter 43 of the General Statutes, the Town of Weston throughout its entire territorial extent is hereby designated as a residential and farming district.' In § 4 of the regulations the following uses are permitted: A single-family dwelling house, offices of a physician, dentist, attorney-at-law, engineer, architect, teacher, artist, musician, writer, photographer, real estate agent, insurance agent, or accountant, or services rendered by a dressmaker, milliner, home cook plumber, electrician, or home repair or serviceman. The use shall be located in the same building in which the resident occupants reside. It also permits the leasing of rooms and the taking of boarders by owner-occupants, farming, nursery gardening, truck gardening and the incidental display and sale of farm produce raised on the premises, removal from the premises of earth materials as part of a bona fide construction or grading operation, and certain special uses.

The testimony of a professional planner appearing at the public hearing on the application on behalf of the plaintiff indicated that the town of Weston is 19.9 square miles in area and has a population of approximately 6700. Weston is a residential community and is so located that there is a general orientation of Weston residents toward the town of Westport, the southwestern region of Connecticut and the city of New York, for employment, shopping and other services. The town has been developed by the construction of single-family houses on lots of two or more acres. The town of Weston has no public water supply, sanitary sewers or public transportation. Its function in the southwestern region of Connecticut is that of a residential area for single-family homes in a rural...