Cambodian Buddhist v. Planning and Zoning

• Decision Date: 12 February 2008
• Docket Number: No. 17690.,17690.
• Citation: 285 Conn. 381,941 A.2d 868
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: CAMBODIAN BUDDHIST SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT, INC., et al. v. PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION OF the TOWN OF NEWTOWN.

941 A.2d 868

285 Conn. 381

CAMBODIAN BUDDHIST SOCIETY OF CONNECTICUT, INC., et al. v. PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION OF the TOWN OF NEWTOWN.

No. 17690.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 6, 2007.

Decided February 12, 2008.

Michael A. Zizka, with whom was Aimee L. Hoben, Hartford, for the appellant (plaintiffs).

Robert A. Fuller, with whom, on the brief, was Karen A. Stansbury, for the appellee (defendant planning and zoning commission of the town of Newtown).

Thomas W. Beecher, Danbury, for the appellees (intervening defendant Richard T. Coburn et al.).

Charles D. Ray, Anthony R. Picarello, Jr., Derek L. Gaubatz and Lori E. Halstead filed a brief for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty as amicus curiae.

NORCOTT, KATZ, PALMER, VERTEFEUILLE and ZARELLA, Js.

PALMER, J.

This appeal by the named plaintiff, Cambodian Buddhist Society of Connecticut, Inc. (society), and the plaintiff Pong Me, the society's president, arises from the decision of the defendant planning and zoning commission of the town of Newtown (commission) denying the society's application for a special exception to build a Buddhist temple on its property located in the town of Newtown (town). The plaintiffs appealed from the commission's decision to the trial court, claiming that the reasons for the denial were not supported by the record and that the denial violated General Statutes § 52-571b¹ and the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc et seq. (RLUIPA).² The trial court dismissed Me's appeal for lack of standing and denied the society's appeal on the merits. On appeal to this court,³ Me challenges the trial court's conclusion that he does not have standing to bring this action, and the society and Me contend that the trial court incorrectly determined that the commission's denial of the society's application was supported by substantial evidence and did not violate either RLUIPA or § 52-571b. We conclude that (1) the trial court properly dismissed Me's claims for lack of standing, (2) neither RLUIPA nor § 52-571b is applicable to the present case, and (3) the commission's decision to deny the society's application for a special exception was supported by substantial evidence. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The record reveals the following facts and procedural history. In 1999, the society purchased a ten acre lot on Boggs Hill Road in Newtown, containing two acres of wetlands and a three acre pond. Four Buddhist monks resided on the property at that time. The property is located in a farming and residential zone in which the operation of places of religious worship is permitted by special exception. On August 15, 2002, the society submitted to the commission an application for a special exception to construct a 6000 square foot meditation temple and meeting hall on the property. The application indicated that off-street parking for approximately 100 vehicles would be required for the proposed temple.

The commission conducted public hearings on the application on October 17 and December 9, 2002. At its regular meeting on February 20, 2003, the commission voted to disapprove the society's application for a special exception on the ground that it did not comply with the standards and criteria set forth in the governing zoning regulations. After noting that the application had been revised to reflect a 7618 square foot building, including a 1618 square foot meditation temple and a 6000 square foot meeting hall, with 148 parking places to accommodate 450 society members at five major Buddhist festivals annually, the commission concluded that the proposed use was inconsistent with a "quiet single-family residential neighborhood with a rural setting" and, therefore, did not meet § 8.04.710 of the Newtown zoning regulations (regulations), which requires that the "[t]he proposed use shall be in harmony with the general character of the neighborhood."

The commission also noted that a newspaper article presented at the hearings revealed that the United States Department of Commerce had awarded a grant to an entity known as Khmer Health Advocates for three health treatment facilities, one of which was reported to be located on the society's property. The commission indicated that it was not convinced by the society's representations that it did not intend to use the site for health treatment purposes. Because that use was not permitted in a residential zone, it did not meet § 8.04.720 of the regulations, which requires that "[t]he proposed use shall not be inconsistent with the intent and purpose of [the] regulations."

The commission also determined that, contrary to the society's estimate, the increase in traffic volume at the site during peak use would be 100 to 200 percent over existing traffic volume. Accordingly, the commission concluded that the proposed use was not in conformity with the requirement of § 8.04.740 of the regulations that "[t]he proposed use ... not create additional congestion or a traffic hazard on existing streets." In addition, the commission determined that the increase in traffic congestion, as well as the traditional Buddhist design of the proposed temple, was inconsistent with § 8.04.730 of the regulations, which provides that "[t]he proposed use shall not substantially impair property values in the neighborhood." The commission further concluded that the temple design was not in compliance with the provision of § 8.04.770 of the regulations that "[t]he architectural design of the proposed buildings shall be in harmony with the design of other buildings" in the neighborhood.

Finally, the commission concluded that the society had not established that the proposed septic system and water supply system complied with the state public health code. Accordingly, the proposed use did not meet § 8.04.750 of the regulations, which provides that "[t]he proposed use shall not create a health or safety hazard to persons or property on or off the lot on which the use is proposed." Following its vote to disapprove the society's application, the commission stated that it believed that "[a]pproval of the application [would have been] a disservice to the Buddhists because they could not use the property the way they wished to." The commission also stated that "[d]iversity of religion should be encouraged in Newtown," and expressed the "[hope] that the [society] could find property more suitable to [its] needs."

The plaintiffs appealed from the adverse decision of the commission to the Superior Court pursuant to General Statutes § 8-8. They alleged in a five count complaint that the commission's decision was arbitrary, illegal and an abuse of discretion because (1) the reasons for the decision were not supported by the record (first count), (2) the decision violated § 52-571b (second count), (3) the decision violated RLUIPA (third count), (4) as applied, the regulations were not in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and were not the least restrictive means of furthering a governmental interest and, therefore, were in violation of RLUIPA (fourth count), and (5) as applied, the regulations were not in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and were not the least restrictive means of furthering a governmental interest and, therefore, were in violation of § 52-571b (fifth count). Thereafter, several owners of property abutting and within 100 feet of the society's property filed a motion to intervene as defendants in the appeal, which the court, J.R. Downey, J., granted.⁴

The commission filed a motion to dismiss Me's claims on the ground that he had no property interest in the property and, therefore, lacked standing to bring a zoning appeal. The trial court, J.R. Downey, J., granted the motion.⁵ The commission also filed a motion to strike (1) the second count of the complaint, contending that the society did not have a cause of action under § 52-571b because the statute protects only individual rights, (2) the second, third, fourth and fifth counts because claims pursuant to § 52-571b and RLUIPA cannot be joined in a zoning appeal, and (3) the fourth and fifth counts because neither § 52-571b nor RLUIPA exempts religious uses from zoning regulations or authorizes the invalidation of such regulations. The trial court, J.R. Downey, J., granted the motion to strike as to the fourth and fifth counts on the ground that those counts were duplicative of the second and third counts and denied the remaining portions of the motion to strike. Thereafter, the society revised its complaint in conformance with the trial court's rulings on the motions to dismiss and to strike.

The trial court, Frankel, J., conducted an evidentiary hearing on the society's zoning appeal on June 15, 2005. Me testified at the hearing that the society currently had no temple in the state of Connecticut at which its members could worship. He further testified that the society had purchased the property in Newtown because that property possessed the appropriate qualities for a temple. Pinith Mar, a member of the society and Me's son-in-law, testified that, because the society had no temple, it had been required to hold religious services in a rented space. Bruce Blair, a member of the society, testified that it is essential to Cambodian Buddhism that monks live in the temple and that the practitioners be able to visit the temple where the monks live. It also is important that the temple be located in a tranquil environment where the practitioners can enter into a meditative state. Blair further testified that the older generation of Cambodian Buddhists is dying without being able to introduce the youngest generation to the religion, and if much more time passes before the society is able to build a temple, there might be no need for one.

In its posttrial brief to the trial court, the society contended that, under these circumstances, the commission's...