Plumb v. Board of Zoning Appeals of City of New Haven

• Decision Date: 02 November 1954
• Citation: 141 Conn. 595,108 A.2d 899
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Rowley PLUMB et al. v. BOARD of ZONING APPEALS of the CITY of NEW HAVEN et al. Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut

Page 899

108 A.2d 899

141 Conn. 595

Rowley PLUMB et al. v. BOARD of ZONING APPEALS of the CITY of NEW HAVEN et al.

Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut.

Nov. 2, 1954.

Alfonse C. Fasano, New Haven, with whom was Alfred A. Toscano, New Haven, for appellants (defendants Mauro and others).

Thomas F. Keyes, Jr., New Haven, for appellees (plaintiffs).

Before INGLIS, C. J., and BALDWIN, O'SULLIVAN, WYNNE and DALY, JJ.

INGLIS, Chief Justice.

Olin Industries, Inc., through Nicholas Mauro, applied to the board of zoning appeals of the city of New Haven, hereinafter referred to as the board, for a variance of the zoning regulations to permit the use of property known as 200 Bassett Street, New Haven, as the site of two one-story buildings for the storage of lumber, building equipment and masonry supplies. The board granted the application, and the plaintiffs, owners of property in the neighborhood, appealed to the Court of Common Pleas. The court rendered judgment reversing the decision of the board, and from that judgment this appeal has been taken.

The following facts were before the board when it granted the variance. The land in question is bounded on the north by Bassett Street, 224 feet, and on the south by Brewster Street, 112 feet. On the west it abuts a right of way of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company for 320 feet. It is now owned by the defendant Olin Industries but is under contract of sale to the defendant Mauro on condition that it becomes available for the use for which the variance is sought. There are now no buildings of any kind upon the property. Prior to 1947, the area in which the lot is located was zoned for industry. In that year, however, the zoning regulations were amended so that the greater portion of two large city blocks, including this property, fell in a residence B zone. No residences have been built in the neighborhood since the change of zone. Olin Industries had owned the land for many years prior to 1947 and at one time had planned to use it for industrial purposes. Dixwell Avenue is about 300 feet west of the property, and the frontage on that street is zoned business A. The use for which the variance was sought was one which was permitted in business A zones but not in residence B zones. Between the railroad track and Dixwell Avenue, along the south side of Bassett Street, there are a live poultry market, a gasoline station, a manufacturing plant and a long series of old garages. On the north side of Bassett Street, a gasoline station and other commercial enterprises are located. East of the property, on Brewster Street, there is a plumbing supply house.

Upon the foregoing facts and others, the board concluded 'that due to its proximity to Dixwell Avenue and Bassett Street, a commercial neighborhood and due to the location of railroad tracks immediately adjacent to this property, no one would want to build a home for residential purposes or for any of the permissible uses under the present zoning classification; that the uses sought in this appeal would not mar the appearance of this particular location nor [a]ffect the values of the homes * * * within its vicinity; that no traffic hazard would be created; that the use sought here would do away with an attractive nuisance created by the existence of the railroad tracks at or near an open lot, [and] that a literal enforcement of the provisions of [the] Zoning ordinance would create an injustice and be in effect confiscatory in that the chances of using said premises for any of the permissible uses are quite remote particularly with railroad tracks located immediately adjacent to the premises.' The board, acting under § 1033(7) of the New Haven ordinance, granted a variance on the ground of undue hardship.

The trial court sustained the appeal on the ground that the evidence before the board did not warrant its conclusions, that the variance was not in accord with the comprehensive plan of zoning and that, therefore, in granting it the board acted arbitrarily, illegally and in abuse of its discretion and exceeded its powers.

As we have so often said, the power to grant variances from the strict application of zoning ordinances should be carefully and sparingly exercised. Celentano v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 136 Conn. 584, 587, 73 A.2d 101; Kamerman v. LeRoy, 133 Conn. 232, 235, 50 A.2d 175. Occasionally, however, situations arise in which the practical and just enforcement of zoning regulations requires that variances be granted. When zoning ordinances authorize an administrative board to vary the regulations under specified conditions, the determination by the board that the conditions have been met is entitled to weight and may be upset by a court only if it appears that in arriving at...