Gordon v. Zoning Bd. of City of Stamford

• Decision Date: 28 October 1958
• Citation: 145 Conn. 597,145 A.2d 746
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Seema GORDON v. ZONING BOARD OF THE CITY OF STAMFORD et al. George W. BAKER et al. v. Hugh D. CATTY et al. Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut

Page 746

145 A.2d 746

145 Conn. 597

Seema GORDON v. ZONING BOARD OF THE CITY OF STAMFORD et al.

George W. BAKER et al. v. Hugh D. CATTY et al.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

Oct. 28, 1958.

Julius B. Kuriansky, Stamford, for appellant (plaintiff) in the first case.

Herbert L. Cohen, Bridgeport, with whom were E. Gaynor Brennan, Stamford, and, on the brief, E. Gaynor Brennan, Jr., Stamford, for appellants (plaintiffs) in the second case.

Maurice J. Buckley, Stamford, with whom were Arthur L. DiSesa, Stamford, and, on the brief, Richard B. Tweedy, Stamford, for appellees (defendants) in each case.

Before DALY, C. J., and BALDWIN, KING, MURPHY and MELLITZ, JJ.

MURPHY, Associate Justice.

The plaintiffs in these two appeals are the owners of real property in a residential area of Stamford. Their properties are adjacent to, or within the neighborhood of, thirty-nine acres of land which the zoning board on April 29, 1957, changed from an RA-1 one-family residence district to a C-D designed commercial district. They appealed to the Court of Common Pleas. From the judgments dismissing their appeals, they have appealed to this court.

The defendants Catty and Lilienthal are the owners of substantial acreage abutting the southerly side of the Merritt Parkway and lying between Turn of River Road, hereinafter referred to as River Road, and Newfield Avenue. Since the adoption of the present zoning regulations in Stamford in 1951, an area of several hundred acres in the Turn of River and Newfield sections has been zoned in the second highest residential zonal classification, RA-1, which primarily restricts its use to single-family residences on one acre plots. Stamford Zoning Regs., §§ 4, 5, 6, (1956). The zoning map indicates that at least one-half, if not more, of the total area of the city is zoned RA-1. Except for that portion of the Catty property which borders the Merritt Parkway on the north and the eastbound entrance lane to it, for a distance of eighty-eight feet, on the west, the entire tract for which the change of zone was sought is surrounded by RA-1 property.

On February 4, 1957, Catty and the American Machine and Foundry Company, hereinafter referred to as A.M.F., applied to the defendant zoning board for a change of zone to C-D commercial to permit the use of the thirty-nine acres of the Catty and Lilienthal properties for the construction and maintenance of experimental and research laboratories by A.M.F. On that date, the zoning regulations provided for three types of designed districts, R-D residence, C-D commercial and M-D industrial. Id., §§ 4, 8. The zoning map shows three isolated designed commercial districts, but it does not appear when they were created. The minimum plot areas for, and the uses permitted in, C-D and M-D districts were then the same. Id., § 8(B). On February 20, 1957, the board amended the designed district regulations by creating another district called B-D designed business district and designating the uses permitted therein. The uses permitted in C-D and M-D districts were changed entirely, and conditions and standards applicable to B-D, C-D and M-D designed districts were adopted. The amendments became effective March 5, 1957. Section 8(B)(11)(f)(iv) of the amended regulations provides that no use shall be permitted that will cause or result in 'unusual traffic hazard or congestion due to the type of vehicles required in the use or due to the manner in which traffic enters or leaves the site of the use.' On April 29, 1957, the board changed the zone of the subject property to C-D commercial and authorized its use for the purpose sought. One of the conditions of the change was that ingress to and egress from the property be limited exclusively to Buxton Farm Road.

Upon appeal, the court concluded that the board had not acted arbitrarily, illegally or in abuse of its discretion. The plaintiffs have assigned several reasons why the judgment should be reversed. In the light in which we view the matter, we will discuss but two of them.

The limited finding filed by the court, which was proper upon such an appeal as this, does not disclose the basis of its decision. Therefore we consult the memorandum of decision to ascertain the legal conclusions upon which the judgment rests. Treat v. Town Plan and Zoning Commission, 145 Conn. 136, 140, 139 A.2d 601; Maltbie, Conn.App.Proc., § 152. In the memorandum, the court states: 'The area affected is residential of very fine type, and the change of zone will increase traffic in the vicinity to a considerable degree. The change of zone will depreciate property values of premises in close proximity to the changed zone.' One of the purposes of zoning in Stamford is to lessen congestion in the streets. 26 Spec.Laws p. 1234, § 550; Stamford Zoning Regs., § 1 (1956). An issue before the court, as indicated by its memorandum of decision, was whether the zoning board, upon the facts before it, abused its discretion in determining that the traffic conditions resulting from the proposed change of zone would not create a congestion of traffic in the highways affected which would violate the purpose stated in the special law. See Pecora v. Zoning Commission, 145 Conn. 435, 440, 144 A.2d 48. That the board did not abuse its discretion in this respect is implicit in the court's conclusion sustaining the board's action. Our task is to determine the correctness of that conclusion.

The thirty-nine-acre tract is interior property without any direct access to a public highway. The sole entrance to the tract is through Buxton Farm Road, a private road running easterly from River Road. The properties on both sides of Buxton Farm Road from River Road to the Catty property are in an RA-1 district. One of these is the home of the plaintiff Gordon. All traffic into and out...