ccapa celebrates 2013 · ccapa celebrates 2013 ... emily (moos) hultquist, aicp president khara...

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Winter 2014

CCAPA Celebrates 20132013 CCAPA Awards ............................... 4

OPM Year in Review .............................. 11

SNEAPA Sponsors .................................. 14

Government Relations Update .............. 15

Also:

From The Bench .......................... 16

CCAPA Budget 2013-2014 ........... 17

The Mill at Hop Brook, winner of the 2013 CCAPA Implementation Award

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Connecticut Chapter of APA – Officers & Directors

Emily (Moos) Hultquist, AICP President

Khara Dodds, AICP Secretary

Heidi Samokar, AICP Treasurer

Donald J. Poland, AICP Immediate Past President

Patrice L, Carson, AICP Member at Large

Robert Phillips, AICP Member at Large

Demian Sorrentino Member at Large

Christopher J. Smith, Esq. Member at Large

Daniel A. Tuba Member at Large

Valerie Ferro Awards Committee Chair

Jana Roberson Committee Chair, Government Relations

Alan L. Weiner, AICP Committee Chair, Membership Services

Susan Westa, AICP Committee Chair, Professional Development Officer

Linnea McCaffrey, AICP Committee Chair, Program

Rebecca Augur Committee Chair, Publicity & Communications/CT Planning Magazine

Click on the names above to send email, or visit our website for additional contact information.

is published quarterly by the Connecticut Chapter of the American Planning Association. Contributions are encouraged. Submissions must include the name and contact information of the contributor. Material may be edited to conform to space or style requirements. Please address submissions to Executive Editor Rebecca Augur, AICP (contact information below).

Rebecca Augur, AICPSenior PlannerMilone & MacBroom, Inc.99 Realty Drive, Cheshire, CT 06410Ph: (203) 271-1773; Fax: (203) [email protected]

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@ CT_APA

It is with great pleasure that I write my first Pres-ident’s message after stepping into this role on

October 1, 2013. Jason Vincent, now Past Presi-dent, has left big shoes to fill. His forward-thinking leadership, positive spirit and enthusiasm for pro-moting planning in our state helped the Chapter enhance its role in helping planners plan, making planners matter and getting planners involved.

As Jason mentioned in his final President’s message, I was lucky to be able to help him carry out one of his final initiatives which was to formulate a three-year work plan for the Chapter’s Executive Board and team of committee volunteers. This work plan was adopted at our October Executive Board Meeting. It lays out an aggressive slate of activities from now through 2016. Many of the activities are ongoing such as increasing opportunities for chapter-wide networking, improv-ing the Chapter’s use of social media and cultivating and educating new committee members. Most items are tied to a timeframe within each of the three work years such as creating and maintaining an en-hanced online membership database and evaluating what programs generate the most interest among members. Along with adopting this work plan, the chapter’s budget has been reviewed and tailored to help accomplish the work we have laid out for ourselves. If you have ever had an inkling that you’d be interested in volun-teering with CCAPA, now is the time to think seriously about stepping up. We have work for you to do, and we’d love to get to know you better! Just contact me or one of our committee chairs and we’d be happy to explain the ways you can get involved. A listing of committee chairs and their contact information is at the bottom of this message. I’d like to close this message by recognizing two gentlemen who exemplify a true commitment to volunteerism for the Chapter and re-cently stepped down from their leadership posts on the Chapter’s Ex-ecutive Board. John Pagini, former CCAPA Professional Development Officer and Chris Wood, former CCAPA Government Relations Chair are both superior examples of Chapter leaders whose hard work and dedication to Connecticut’s planning community has made a big im-pact on our profession. Throughout the course of his post as Chapter PDO, John Pagini helped certify numerous programs and CM credits

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

(continued on page 3)

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FROM THE EDITORRegionalism in ConnecticutIs your community involved in a successful regional collaboration?

Will your town be affected by a potential change in regional planning organization boundaries?

Or, would you care to share your perspective on regionalism and regional planning?

If so, please contact the editor: [email protected]. Our next issue is devoted to regionalism, and your contributions are always welcomed.

As we look for-ward to the

year ahead, this is-sue is dedicated to reflecting on 2013. Please congratulate the Chapter’s 2013 Awards winners and take a closer look at their plans/proj-ects for inspiration in your own com-munity and work. Also, keep in mind the annual awards program through-out the year as you come across wor-thy plans, projects and/or individuals. In addition to celebrating notable planning projects, this issue addresses the important recent MacKenzie de-cision on waivers as part of a special exception approval process, and an update from OPM on two important initiatives from 2013: the newly ad-opted State Conservation and Devel-opment Policies Plan and the ongoing study of regional planning organiza-tion boundaries. Stay tuned as the first issue of 2014 will get more in-depth on re-gional planning and regionalism. Happy new year!

— Rebecca Augur

for Connecticut programs. His tireless work and leadership by example enabled Connecticut Planners to meet the highest professional standards possible and cer-tainly helped with the Chapter’s mission to build better planners and help plan-ners plan. During his eight years as the Chapter’s Government Relations Chair, Chris Wood has spent countless hours commuting to the Capitol, testifying on behalf of Connecticut planners and preparing over 500 documents on behalf of CCAPA to make certain that Connecticut Planners had a voice at the Capitol on issues that concern them. His efforts helped achieve the CCAPA goals of helping Connecticut plan and making planners matter. Susan Westa has stepped in as the Chapter’s new PDO Jana Roberson has stepped in as the Chapter’s new Govern-ment Relations Chair. Please do not hesitate to be in touch with me should you have any thoughts, questions or suggestions for the Chapter! My inbox welcomes your emails, my voicemail welcomes your messages and my door welcomes your feet if you find yourself in Hartford! Cheers to the next three years!

— Emily (Moos) Hultquist, AICP

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE, CONT

Our Committee Chairs:

Jana Roberson, Government Relations Committee Chair

Linnea McCaffrey, Program Committee Chair

Alan Weiner, Membership Services Committee Chair

Rebecca Augur, Communications Committee Chair

Valerie Ferro, Awards Committee Chair

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This award is given out to a plan or land use regulation that uniquely addresses a contemporary, unique or challenging issue. This year, two plans were awarded in this category.

City of Norwich Plan of Conservation and Development The innovation the Awards Commit-tee specifically recognized in Norwich’s plan is the use of locational guides rather than a “Future Land Use Plan.” As a result, Norwich is the first com-munity in Connecticut to integrate the state’s approach into lo-cal planning. The plan was also recognized for its emphasis on implementa-tion, with a section to sup-port policy guidance and implementation. Plans are communications tools for policymakers to convey

thoughtful approaches to balancing the forces of conservation of resources and development of land. By focusing on the geographic aspects of desirable poli-cies for the City, this plan provides out-standing graphics to communicate the connection between places and policies. According to one of the nominations for the plan, “it is an easy-to-use (and apply) municipal document clearly articulating policy orientation and exposition of the city’s objectives and deliverables…”

2013 CCAPA AwardsCCAPA recognizes notable plans, planning projects and planners through its annual awards program. The awards committee solicits nominations in several categories each year and determines the winners. This year’s winners included the following:

2013 Innovative Plan


From left to right: Peter Davis, Director of Planning & Development Services; Keith Ripley, POCD Subcommittee; Sofee Noblick, Alderwoman, POCD Subcommittee; Norwich Mayor Deberey Hinchey (at podium).

Plans are communications tools for policy-makers to convey thoughtful approaches to balancing the forces of conservation of resources and development of land.

Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency Plan of Conservation and Development The Awards Committee recognized the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency’s (CCRPA) new approach to regional plans and focus on sustainable land use. The Committee was impressed by the strate-gic thought and consideration that went into CCRPA’s approach prior to embarking on the planning process, rather than relying on a cookbook approach as we often do with our POCDs. Like municipalities, Connecticut’s regional plan-ning organizations must adopt a regional Plan of Conservation and Development every ten years. The conventional starting point of many of these plans, which primarily exist to guide land use in the region, has been a build-out analysis. While this is an important analytical tool, quantifying how many more buildings and parking lots that can be absorbed before a region reaches its tipping point is fundamentally at odds with the notion of sustainable development. CCRPA embraced form-based and performance zoning, and used a hybrid approach to develop its plan. Using remote sensing data, land in the region was di-vided into five categories according to the intensity of development that would be appropriate and that the surrounding infrastructure could support. Recommen-dations were developed specific to each category to en-sure that the costs of future growth could be met.

In addition, “plan area” overlays were superim-posed on downtowns, village centers, and crossroads to differentiate them from surrounding lands, thereby re-focusing the region’s communities on the places that make them unique and quintessentially New England. This approach, combining development intensity with plan area overlays, will result in flexibility in land use to preserve community character while promoting sustain-able development across the region.

Tim Malone, CCRPA Associate Planner, and Francis Pickering, CCRPA Senior Planner, accepting the award.


This award is given for a planning project or initiative that resulted in significant advancement of a community’s comprehension of planning issues or outcomes. In 2013, CCAPA recognized the Connecticut Main Street Center (CMSC) for its “Come Home to Down-town” pilot program. The program demonstrates the untapped potential of downtown buildings — our first examples of mixed use development. Through a successful collaboration between the CMSC and the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority a comprehen-sive approach to revitalizing downtowns was developed to educate owners of small, under-utilized downtown proper-ties and provide technical assistance to the host community. CMSC chose three communities: Middletown, Torrington and Waterbury, as well as three property owners and their buildings to focus the pilot program. CMSC worked with municipal of-ficials and the building owners to develop viable redevelopment options including:

• Determining what financing would likely be needed for redevelopment;

• Performing an assessment of zoning and regulatory requirements;

• Reviewing the downtown management function; and

• Measuring the downtown’s walkability

Specific recommendations for im-proving the buildings, including a recom-mended floor plan designed to attract new residents and bring market rate housing downtown, was also provided to each property owner. Each of the build-ings was chosen in part because they are representative of the types of buildings found in downtowns all across Con-necticut. Therefore, they serve as models for the redevelopment process in other downtowns. Through this pilot program, prop-erty owners and municipalities were taught how to re-awaken downtowns by reverting what many developers have considered functionally obsolete build-ings to the mixed-use assets they once were.


Each of the buildings was chosen in part because they are representative of the types of buildings found in downtowns all across Connecticut. Therefore, they serve as models for the redevelopment process in other downtowns.

Education & Outreach Award

From left to right: Sue Westa, CMSC Community Engagement Director; John Simone CMSC President and CEO; Diane Smith, CT Housing Finance Authority.

This award is for a planning project or initiative of unusually high merit for which there are demonstrated results. For 2013, the Awards Committee recognized Landworks Development, LLC for seizing an opportunity in Sims-bury’s new Planned Area Development zoning regulation to develop an innova-tive mixed use development that is the first project approved and constructed under the new regulations. The develop-ment, the Mill at Hop Brook, includes a restaurant, apartments and town homes

An existing gristmill, with its views of Hop Brook, was renovated into a four-star and highly successful restaurant, Millwright’s. The beautifully rehabilitated brownstone also contains several offices, some of which are connected to the development, while others are completely separate.

Implementation Award all within walking distance of Simsbury Town Center which offers a variety of commercial and civic services. The devel-opment runs along the popular Farming-ton Valley Greenway. An existing gristmill, with its views of Hop Brook, was renovated into a four-star and highly successful restaurant, Millwright’s. The beautifully rehabili-tated brownstone also contains several offices, some of which are connected to the development, while others are com-pletely separate. Mill Commons contains 88 apartments including four completely separate gatehouse style residences and a meeting house. Another section of the


Chris Nelson, Principal of Landworks Development, LLC

resources and promotion of economic development. Public involvement was key to New Milford’s successful planning process, and included:

• An online survey to provide initial input of thoughts, ideas and opinions

• Community workshops to discuss concepts

• Inclusion of ConnDOT in the planning process

• A “Walkshop” to examine conditions in the field

The final plan illustrates the alterna-tives discussed and evaluates them against a set of multi-modal performance stan-dards established during the public pro-cess. The methodology, public involve-ment and blueprint for the future serve as an example to communities that want to address traffic congestion in a downtown area to improve the quality of life for resi-dents and visitors as well. As stated by Tim O’Brien, President of the New Milford River Trail Associa-tion, “By acknowledging that busses, bikes and sensible shoes are necessary ingre-dients in a system of transportation that serves people, not just cars and trucks, this plan is a great step towards improving safety, economic development and quality of life for the Town of New Milford.”


Physical Planning Award

development, currently under construc-tion, consists of 20 townhouses which will meet current demand for housing young professionals seeking apartment living and empty-nesters or retirees looking to down-size in a mixed-age development.The project fully embodies the Town’s new regulations and is a complement to the existing setting. Landworks embraced the opportunity to collaborate closely with the town and create a successful de-velopment from both the community and developer’s point of view.

This award is given to a concept, design or plan that improves the human experience of the built environment. The Town of New Milford received the Chapter’s 2013 Physical Planning Award for its Transportation Manage-ment Plan. This comprehensive transportation plan is a creative yet practical multi-modal plan that treats bicycles and sidewalks as key components of connectivity within the Town’s transportation system. The outlined transportation system improve-

ments balance op-erations with the preservation of community charac-ter, environmental

From left to right: Michael Morehouse, Fitzgerald & Halliday, Inc.; Pete Bass, Vice-Chairman New Milford Town Council; Michael Zarba, Public Works Director.

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This award is given in memory of Bruce Hoben, whose selfless involvement with and longtime leadership in the Chapter along with his many contributions to the practice of planning in Connecticut, truly exemplify the spirit of distinguished service. The Chapter chose to honor Chris Wood, President of Woods Planning, LLC for his exceptional leadership and expertise as the chapter’s Government Relations Chair and his longstanding commitment to serving our chapter and the planning profession. For the past eleven years, Chris has served on the Executive Committee of CCAPA, the last eight of which as the Government Relations Chair. In his work on Chapter legislative affairs, Chris spent countless hours commuting to the Capitol and testifying on behalf of Connecticut planners on bills and proposals in front of the Planning and Development Commit-tee. Chris continually provided detailed

reporting and up-to-date knowledge to the Execu-tive Committee and Chapter on the often complex issues he was dealing with at the Capitol. In his time as Govern-ment Relations Chair, Chris prepared over 500 documents on behalf of CCAPA on is-sues ranging from bonding to Responsible Growth and from Eminent Domain to Zoning Enforcement. Chris ensured that Connecticut Planners had a voice at the Capitol on issues of concern to them. Chris has been a mentor to the members of his com-mittee, in particular to our new Government Relations Chair, Jana Roberson, who says that Chris has taught her a great amount in the time she has worked with him, always with a positive nature and sense of humor. Jana says that Chris is the kind of speaker that, when he starts, you take notes. Chris VanDeHoef of

the Capitol Group, the Chapter’s lob-byist states, “Working with Chris was an absolute pleasure. The world of the state legislature can be overwhelming and un-predictable and Chris was always prepared and ready for anything. A person that pre-pared is always a treat to work with...he will be missed.” Before starting Woods Planning, LLC, Chris was an advisor to the

In his time as Government Relations Chair, Chris prepared over 500 documents on behalf of CCAPA on issues ranging from bonding to Responsible Growth and from Eminent Domain to Zoning Enforcement.


Bruce Hoben Award

Chris Wood, AICP and CCAPA President Emily Hultquist, AICP

2013 CCAPA Awards, cont’dNorthwestern Connecticut Regional Planning Collaborative, the Director of the Connecticut Department of Public Utilities, the Director of the Connecti-cut Siting Council, a member of the CT Energy Advisory Board and the Pomp-eraug Watershed Coalition and served as the Town Planner for the Town of Woodbury. The Chapter thanks Chris for his dedicated service and congratulates him on this well-deserved award.

CCAPA Awards Committee The Chapter’s annual awards program is put together by a dedicated committee of volunteers, headed up by Val Ferro. The Awards Committee solicits nomina-tions of individuals, projects and organi-zations in the fall for consideration and the winners are presented their awards at the Chapter’s annual holiday luncheon in early December. Make a mental note of any award-worthy plans or projects you encounter in 2014 and submit your nominations!

CCAPA Awards Committee Members:Valarie Ferro, AICP, Committee ChairFrancis Armentano, AICPMartin Connor, AICPLinda Farmer, AICPLinnea C. McCaffrey, AICPCraig Minor, AICP

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Membership NewsChanging Jobs?Share the big news about your latest career move with the rest of us! Provide your new job title/address/phone and fax numbers/email address — and we’ll announce it in the next issue of the Chapter newsletter.

Changing Addresses?Please advise both the Member Records Department at APA’s Chicago office and me of any changes to your APA mailing address.

American Planning AssociationMember Records Department122 South Michigan Ave., Suite 1600Chicago, IL 60603Tel: (312) [email protected]

Report changes to CCAPA as follows:Alan L. Weiner9 High StreetCollinsville, CT 06019-3125Tel: (860) 584-6225 (weekdays)[email protected]

2013-2018 Conservation and Development Policies: The Plan for Connecticut (State C&D Plan) The Connecticut General Assembly adopted the 2013-2018 State C&D Plan on June 5, 2013, via Senate Joint Reso-lution No. 58. This was the sixth formal revision of the State C&D Plan since it was first adopted in 1979. The Office of Policy and Management (OPM) ad-ministers the State C&D Plan revision process, and state statutes require OPM to prepare three progressive drafts of the State C&D Plan and to conduct public hearings. Public Act 10-138 required OPM to develop a “cross-acceptance” process to supplement the requirements of Chapter 297 of the Connecticut General Statutes (CGS), and to help ensure that the State C&D Plan is developed in a more bot-tom-up process than in the past. OPM

OPM Year in Reviewby Daniel Morley, Policy Development Coordinator, Connecticut Office of Policy and Management

submitted its cross-acceptance report to the Continuing Legislative Committee on State Planning and Development (Con-tinuing Committee) in January 2011, and proceeded to conduct early outreach and coordination with state agencies, munici-palities and regional planning organiza-tions (RPOs). OPM produced an initial draft State C&D Plan in December 2011, which served as the basis for the plan compari-son phase of cross-acceptance. Over the following months, 136 municipalities and 14 RPOs compared their plans of conser-vation and development against the draft State C&D Plan and submitted their sur-veys to OPM. OPM produced a second draft State C&D Plan in April 2012, which became the basis for public hearings. It was at this time that OPM produced a draft


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OPM Year in Review, cont’dOPM is in the process of administering the first comprehensive analysis of the boundaries of planning regions, since such regions were established in Connecticut over fifty years ago.

Locational Guide Map to accompany the draft State C&D Plan, in order to begin the process of addressing new Priority Funding Area (PFA) legislative requirements. The Summer 2012 issue of Connecticut Planning includes in-depth articles on this subject. Upon completion of public hear-ings, OPM staff compiled all comments received and posted responses to its web-site. OPM subsequently prepared the third draft State C&D Plan and submitted it to the Continuing Committee prior to the start of the 2013 legislative session. The Continuing Committee held a public hearing on February 22, 2013, and issued an endorsement letter on May 15, 2013 that provided a statement of legislative intent on the use of the State C&D Plan’s Locational Guide Map. The endorsement letter appears on the first page of the final adopted 2013-2018 State C&D Plan, which can be viewed at: www.ct.gov/opm/cdplan.

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Analysis of the Boundaries of Logical Planning Regions Connecticut’s planning regions pro-vide a geographic framework within which municipalities can jointly address com-mon interests, and coordinate such inter-ests with state plans and programs. State statutes authorize the OPM Secretary to designate or redesignate the boundaries of logical planning regions, whereas separate statutes authorize the member municipali-ties of each planning region to establish a formal governance structure. OPM is in the process of administer-ing the first comprehensive analysis of the boundaries of planning regions, since such regions were established in Connecticut over 50 years ago. CGS Section 16a-4c, as amended by Section 249 of Public Act 13-247, requires OPM to conduct an analysis of the boundaries of logical planning re-gions by January 1, 2014, and at least every twenty years thereafter. This requirement traces its roots to the 2007 Legislative Program Review and Investigations Com-mittee report, titled Connecticut’s Regional Planning Organizations.

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During the 2013 legislative session, House Speaker Sharkey re-convened the Municipal Opportunities & Regional Ef-ficiencies (M.O.R.E.) Commission to develop recommendations for legislative consideration. A number of the Commis-sion’s recommendations were ultimately incorporated into Public Act 13-247. In particular, Section 249 directs the OPM Secretary to submit a status report of its analysis of the boundaries of logical planning regions to the Planning and Development Committee by October 1, 2013. The status report can be viewed at: http://tinyurl.com/nbtrjrc. A provision of the statute allows any two or more contiguous planning regions that agree to voluntarily consolidate and begin the process of forming a single council of governments to be exempt from OPM’s analysis, provided the OPM Secretary formally redesignates the con-solidated region prior to January 1, 2014. Upon completion of OPM’s analysis, the secretary must notify the chief executive officer of each municipality located in a planning region in which the boundaries are proposed for redesignation, so that they have an opportunity to appeal. The boundaries of planning regions resulting from OPM’s analysis and subsequent mu-nicipal appeals process shall be effective January 1, 2015. In addition, Section 250 of Public Act 13-247 mandates that each Re-gional Planning Agency (RPA) and each Regional Council of Elected Officials (RCEO) must be restructured as a Re-gional Council of Governments (RCOG) by January 1, 2015. This new require-ment is due to the widespread belief that RCOGs are the most effective form of regional governance. Finally, Section 251 of Public Act 13-247 establishes the Regional Plan-ning Incentive Account, which provides a significantly higher level of annual state grant-in-aid to RCOGs to support and sustain their basic planning functions. This dedicated funding stream, which comprises 6.7% of the monthly hotel tax revenue and 10.7% of the car rental tax revenue, also supports the Municipal

OPM Year in Review, cont’d Reimbursement and Revenue Account (MRRA) and the Regional Performance Incentive Program (RPIP), as directed in Sections 87 and 253 of Public Act 13-247. One of the uses of these funds en-tails grants to municipalities and RCOGs to connect their central administrative facilities to the Nutmeg Network over the next two years, so that there are in-creased opportunities for municipalities to realize cost savings through regional efficiencies.

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Upcoming Legislative Session The Government Relations Com-mittee is expecting 2014 to be a build-ing year. Jana Butts Roberson, AICP, was recently appointed chairman by the Executive Committee. CCAPA mem-bers interested in providing assistance with committee communications such as email alerts should contact Jana at [email protected]. The Government Relations Commit-tee’s main roles are in helping ensure the passage and enactment of legislation that improves planning (including planning coordination and capacity) in Connecti-cut and to promote legislation to create, guide, and support an effective, consoli-dated, and autonomous planning function at the highest level of State government. In our practice of land use regulation and planning, Chapter members routinely uncover flaws, inconsistencies, and other opportunities for clarification in the Con-

Government Relations Update by Jana Butts Roberson, AICP, Government Relations Committee Chair

Chris Wood, AICP, Steps Down As Long-Time ChairIt may not come as a surprise, but it is official. Chris Wood has retired after ten illustrious years as Chair of the Government Relations Com-mittee. Chris kept us entertained as he slyly cracked jokes (and threw an occasional jab) while providing legislative updates at Chapter events such as Hot Topics. The bulk of Chris’ work was monitoring legislation and preparing comments on bills and proposals that sometimes came from reasoned and careful policy development and sometimes came from outer space.

Mr. Wood’s tireless work in the state capitol will be greatly missed. He will be remembered for his contri-butions to the legislative discourse on smart growth and state planning. His biggest contribution is perhaps to Connecticut legislators, most notably of the Planning & Develop-ment Committee, whom he sought to provide with clear and cogent commentary on pending legislation. He wrote very clearly about complex things, and it wasn’t always easy (bonding comes to mind) to convey the concerns of the CCAPA member-ship. Thankfully, Chris has agreed to be available as an advisor, so long as he is not on a boat.

necticut General Statutes. The Govern-ment Relations Committee maintains a list of such opportunities and watches for opportunities to include revisions into re-lated legislation, or if significant enough, look for legislative sponsors of proposals for amendments. A current issue of interest is recent case law prohibiting a Planning and Zoning Commission from waiving or varying special permit requirements, even when the zoning regulations explicitly authorize them to do so (MacKenzie v. PZC, 146 Conn. App. 406, 2013). CCAPA members are encouraged to monitor legislative developments by watching for the Government Relations Committee email alerts and updates and by checking the CT General Assembly webpage. Please forward questions, con-cerns, or comments on legislative matters to [email protected]. We may ask members to contact legislators about

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From the Bench

Question: can a zoning com-

mission waive or vary setback or landscape buffer requirements when reviewing and acting upon an appli-cation for special exception approval? Short answer: no. Why not: such vio-lates the State’s zoning enabling leg-islation and uniformity requirement. (A quick note: the terms “waiver,” “variance,” and “modify” are used interchangeably throughout this col-umn — as you will see, the decision discussed below applies regardless of what term is used.) In Donna MacKenzie, et al. v. Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Monroe, et al., 146 Conn. App. 406 (2013), the State Appellate Court held that the defendant Mon-roe Planning and Zoning Commis-sion (“PZC”) improperly approved an application for special exception approval after “waiving”: (i) a setback provision to permit parking within in a designated setback area; and (ii) a landscape buffer requirement. The

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special exception application was for a McDonald’s restaurant. MacKenzie involved a petition to rezone a portion of a property to the Design Business #1 Zone Dis-trict (“DB1”), and a corresponding application for special exception ap-proval to permit a McDonald’s. The applicant had previously obtained a variance approval from the Monroe Zoning Board of Appeals (“ZBA”) to permit a drive thru use component. However, the applicant waited until appearing before the PZC to seek “waivers” of the subject setback and landscape buffer requirements. The Monroe Zoning Regulations provide “that the [PZC] may modify lot area, frontage, minimum square, and yard requirements where applied to a lot under separate ownership of record on the effective date of these regulations, so long as there is ad-equate provision for sewage disposal and water supply and so long as ac-cess to public streets will not create traffic hazard.” The Regulations also provide that the PZC may approve “minor variations” of the Regula-

tions that protect the public health and safety, provide for the most ap-propriate use of the subject property, preserve property values, and do not violate the integrity of the Regulations. After approving the change of zone and the requested waivers, the PZC approved the special exception application. Plaintiffs appealed. The trial court “upheld” the PZC’s ap-provals, and dismissed plaintiffs’ ap-peal. The Appellate Court affirmed the trial court’s decision to uphold the change of zone, but reversed the trial court’s decision to uphold the special exception approval. The MacKenzie Court’s decision is worth the read. In addition to the specifics of the holding, the Court provides background case citations on a number of issues that anyone reading this column should be aware of — from what is the “obvious purpose of yard requirements and setback lines,” to a discussion on the difference between a floating zone and a planned development district.

A Zoning Commission’s Variance Authority?


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From the Bench, continued

The PZC’s Wavier Authority A basic tenet of zoning law is that municipalities, and their boards, com-missions and agencies, are “creatures of the state,” and possess only those powers explicitly delegated to them by the Con-necticut General Assembly. A board or commission cannot exceed its scope of statutory authority; if it does, its action is invalid and void. Applying this concept to

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the Monroe matter, the Court held that a zoning commission has statutory author-ity to enact zoning regulations, but only a zoning board of appeals has authority to vary regulations on an application-by-application basis, as provided by Section 8-6 of the Connecticut General Statutes. Therefore, the Monroe PZC exceeded its scope of authority when approving the requested waivers. Second, the Court held that the “ap-plication of the variance power set forth” in the Monroe Zoning Regulations, “runs afoul of the uniformity requirement of General Statutes, Section 8-2.” The uni-formity requirement provides that proper-ties located within the same zone district shall be treated alike unless a particular property qualifies for a variance from the zoning board of appeals under Section 8-6. Therefore, the Court held that the uniformity requirement precludes case-by-case variance of regulatory require-ments by a zoning commission such as performed by the Monroe PZC. For these reasons, the Court held that the PZC’s waivers were invalid, and, therefore, since the special exception failed to meet the subject setback and landscape buffer requirements, the PZC improperly approved the special exception.

Anything Unresolved? After MacKenzie, it’s pretty clear that a zoning commission lacks authority to grant a variance of a setback or buffer requirement when reviewing a special ex-ception application. However, what about a zone district that provides regulatory incentives with an explicit formula for addressing bulk area requirements? For example, is it permis-sible to have a downtown revitalization zone, which provides that the zone’s underlying coverage requirement may be exceeded by twenty (20%) if certain pedes-trian friendly provisions are included in a development proposal such as bicycle racks or expanded public areas? Is this a waiver of the coverage requirement? This type of regulation may appear to be outside the scope of the MacKenzie decision, but we’ll have to wait for a final determination from the courts on the validity of this type of “incentive” zoning regulation.

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