In re Sardi, 99-069.

• Decision Date: 17 March 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-069.,99-069.
• Citation: 751 A.2d 772
• Parties: In re Appeal of Vincent and June SARDI, et al.
• Court: Vermont Supreme Court

751 A.2d 772

In re Appeal of Vincent and June SARDI, et al.

No. 99-069.

Supreme Court of Vermont.

March 17, 2000.

Present AMESTOY, C.J., and DOOLEY, MORSE, JOHNSON and SKOGLUND, JJ.

ENTRY ORDER

Neighbors challenge the environmental court's decision that upheld a conditional use permit granted to applicant Trailside Ski Club of New Jersey, Inc. They contend that the proposed facility is a private club, rather than a lodge, and, therefore, applicant should not be allowed to use the site as proposed. They also argue that, if the facility is a lodge, it cannot comply with the requirements of the conditional use permit. We affirm.

Applicant is a nonprofit New Jersey corporation established in 1964 to foster and encourage skiing. Since that time, its members have traveled to Vermont to ski and have rented various overnight accommodations in the Sugarbush area. In January 1997, applicant purchased an undeveloped 3.4 acre lot in a Rural Residential District (R-2) in Warren, Vermont. Applicant's goal is to create overnight accommodations for its members. The proposed facility will be primarily used on weekends during the ski season. Neighbors are a group of individuals concerned that their nearby properties will be adversely affected by applicant's proposed development and use of the property.

In April 1997, applicant applied for a permit to build an eight-bedroom, single-family house. The zoning administrator denied the application and responded that the proposed use more appropriately fell under the definition of a ski lodge, thus requiring a conditional use permit. Applicant revised its application and obtained site plan approval from the planning commission and a conditional use permit from the zoning board of adjustment. Neighbors sought review of both the site plan approval and the conditional use permit from the environmental court. The court first determined that the proposed facility was appropriately classified as a lodge and granted summary judgment to applicant. Following a de novo hearing on the merits of the application, the court granted site plan approval subject to certain requirements such as driveway maintenance and vegetated buffer zones, but denied conditional use approval due to the inadequacy of the proposed septic system. At a reconsideration hearing, the environmental court reviewed the septic and well system design and granted the conditional use approval with additional conditions imposed relating to the septic system.

Our review of environmental court decisions is deferential. See Badger v. Town of Ferrisburgh, 168 Vt. 37, 39, 712 A.2d 911, 913 (1998). We defer to the environmental court's interpretation of a zoning ordinance unless it is clearly erroneous, arbitrary, or capricious. See id.

The environmental court considered two issues. The threshold issue was whether the proposed facility should be classified as a lodge or a private club under the Warren zoning bylaws. This issue is dispositive because private clubs are not allowed in R-2 districts, while lodges are a conditional use. Once the court determined that the facility was properly classified as a lodge, the second issue was whether the proposed project complied with all of the conditional use requirements.

In considering the proper classification, the court found that the proposed facility fit the definition of a lodge. The Warren zoning bylaws define a lodge as:

A building or group of associated buildings containing up to ten (10) bedrooms for occupancy by transients on a short-term basis of less than one month average, which may offer dining facilities for the overnight guests of the lodge only.

Warren, Vt., Zoning By-Laws art. VII, § 1 (March 1996). A private club is defined as:

A corporation, organization, association or group of individuals existing for fraternal, social, recreational or educational purposes, for cultural enrichment or to further the purposes of agriculture, which owns, occupies, or uses certain specified premises, which is not organized or operated for profit, and the benefits of which are available primarily to members only.

Id.

Because the proposed facility comprised an eight-bedroom building to be used by applicant's members for weekend trips to Vermont and its dining facility could only be used by applicant's members, the court decided that the facility fell under the definition of a lodge. The court reasoned that the term "private club" should be used to encompass those projects that do not fall into one of the other zoning categories.

On appeal, neighbors argue that the court failed to properly interpret the zoning bylaws, and that the bylaws clearly establish that applicant's building should be classified as a private club. Neighbors also contend that even if applicant's facility could be classified as both a lodge and a private club, the private club is the primary use due to the fact that only members may be overnight visitors. In other words, their theories are based on the idea that applicant should not be allowed to create a lodge because of its private-membership status. This theory would require us to construe the zoning ordinance as permitting regulation of property based solely on the ownership rather than the use of the land. This result is inconsistent with the authority that the Legislature has granted to municipalities. See 24 V.S.A. § 4401; Vermont Baptist Convention v. Burlington Zoning Bd., 159 Vt. 28, 30, 613 A.2d 710, 711 (1992). The Legislature has authorized municipalities to regulate the following:

(A) Specific uses of land, water courses and other bodies of water;

(B) Dimensions, location, erection, construction, repair, maintenance, alteration, razing, removal and use of structures;

(C) Areas and dimensions of land and bodies of water to be occupied by uses and structures, as well as areas, courts, yards and other open spaces and distances to be left unoccupied by uses and structures; [and]

(D) Density of population and intensity of use.

24 V.S.A. § 4401(b)(1). This enumeration of powers does not rely on the identity of the owner. Instead, it deals only with the use of such areas. The primary purpose of zoning is to facilitate the orderly development of communities by confining particular uses to defined areas. See Badger, 168 Vt. at 39, 712 A.2d at 913. The fact that the facility may also be classified as a private club does not affect the actual use of the property, which will be as a lodge. Therefore, the environmental court's decision was not clearly erroneous.

We next consider whether the proposed facility complies with the requirements of the conditional use permit. Neighbors argue that the court erred: (1) in finding that the character of the area would not be adversely affected; (2) in finding that the water and waste disposal system would be adequate; (3) in finding that traffic in the area would not be adversely affected; and (4) by imposing permit conditions that are illusory. We consider each of these arguments in turn.

Neighbors first maintain that the court considered too large an area in determining whether...