Jensen's, Inc. v. Town of Plainville
| Decision Date | 31 March 1959 |
| Citation | 150 A.2d 297,146 Conn. 311 |
| Parties | JENSEN'S, INC. v. TOWN OF PLAINVILLE et al. Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
Howard J. Maxwell, Hartford, for appellant (plaintiff).
Arnold M. Sweig, Plainville, for appellees (defendants).
Before DALY, C. J., and BALDWIN, KING, MURPHY and MELLITZ, JJ.
On April 15, 1947, the plaintiff bought a ten-acre park for forty-five trailers which was then being operated as a nonconforming use in a residential zone on the east side of East Street in Plainville. Zoning had been adopted in 1942, and the regulations limited the total number of trailer parks in the town to eight and the number of trailers in any one park to forty-five and forbade any trailer park in a residential zone. Plainville Zoning Regs., § 17(B)(2), (4) (1942). The regulations authorized the continuance of nonconforming uses; id. § 11; and it was by virtue of this provision that the plaintiff operated the trailer park in a residential zone. The right to amend the regulations was expressly reserved. Id. § 22.
On June 11, 1947, the plaintiff purchased a five-acre tract adjoining its trailer park and on November 18, 1950, it purchased another adjoining parcel of one and one-half acres. Both were in the same residential zone as the trailer park, and neither had ever been used in any way for trailers. Owing principally to the shortage of housing in Plainville, the plaintiff applied for and received temporary permits to increase the number of trailers in its park from forty-five to seventy-five. The legality of these permits is not in issue. Beginning in 1948, the plaintiff did not confine the trailers to the ten-acre tract, although prior to 1953 it did not disclose this in its proceedings to obtain permits to increase the number of trailers in its park.
Effective May 29, 1951, the zoning commission amended its regulations to prohibit the establishment of any new trailer parks in Plainville. Plainville Zoning Regs., § 17(E) (1951). Subsequently, the plaintiff applied for a variation to permit it to continue to maintain the thirty extra trailers and, on January 28, 1954, this was granted by the zoning board of appeals for a period limited to two years. On March 14, 1956, the plaintiff applied to the board for a special exception to permit the maintenance of the thirty additional trailers for two more years. This was denied, and the board ordered the plaintiff to reduce, within one year, the number of trailers on its property to forty-five. The plaintiff then instituted the present proceeding, in effect seeking a judgment declaring that the zoning regulations were invalid and unconstitutional in so far as they prohibited it from using its three tracts of land for a trailer park or limited the number of trailers thereon. It also sought injunctive relief against the enforcement of the regulations. No claim was made that any of the regulations involved were not validly enacted if the commission had power to act on their subject matter. In a counterclaim, the defendants sought injunctive relief, against (1) the use by the plaintiff for trailer camp purposes of any of its land except the original ten-acre tract and (2) the maintenance of a trailer camp having more than forty-five trailers on it. On the complaint, the court entered judgment that the ordinance is valid and constitutional; it granted the injunctive relief sought under the counterclaim.
The only land the plaintiff owns or proposes to use for trailer camps is, and continuously since 1942 has been, in a residential zone. Thus the plaintiff is adversely affected by the zoning ordinances only in so far as they prohibit trailer camps on property in a residential zone--a prohibition which has been in effect since the adoption of zoning in 1942. That zoning regulations forbidding the operation of trailer parks in residential zones...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Rotter v. Coconino County
...parcel of land that was not used for this purpose prior to the effective date of the ordinance. See, e.g., Jensen's v. Town of Plainville, 146 Conn. 311, 150 A.2d 297, 299 (1959) (plaintiff's right to operate nonconforming use extends only to original tract and number of trailers existing a......
-
SMITH CTY. PLANNING COM'N v. HIWASSEE LLC
...attempting to regulate these parks often prohibited them entirely from residential areas. See, e.g., Jensen's, Inc. v. Town of Plainville, 146 Conn. 311, 150 A.2d 297, 299 (1959); City of Raleigh v. Morand, 247 N.C. 363, 100 S.E.2d 870, 874 (1957). Park owners clearly operated commercial ve......
-
PLAZA MOBILE AND MODULAR HOMES v. Town of Colchester
...754 (citations omitted); see also Zoning Commission v. Tarasevich, 165 Conn. 86, 93, 328 A.2d 682 (1973); Jensen's, Inc. v. Plainville, 146 Conn. 311, 314, 150 A.2d 297 (1959); Calve Bros. Co. v. Norwalk, 143 Conn. 609, 617, 124 A.2d 881 (1956). It is beyond question that these authorities ......
-
Town of Hartland v. Jensen's, Inc.
...the operation of trailer parks in residential areas are a constitutional exercise of the police power. Jensen's, Inc. v. Town of Plainville, 146 Conn. 311, 314, 150 A.2d 297; People v. Lederle, 206 Misc. 244, 250, 132 N.Y.S.2d 693, affirmed 309 N.Y. 866, 131 N.E.2d 284; Davis v. McPherson, ......