Rep. Doug Dubitsky Looks to Restore Landowners’ Rights
HARTFORD –State Rep. Doug Dubitsky (R-47) submitted testimony in favor of legislation that would prohibit municipal zoning commissions from requiring special permits to continue a use, building or structure made non-conforming by new zoning regulations.
The proposal, HB-6475, An Act Prohibiting Zoning Commissions From Requiring Special Permits Or Special Exemptions In Certain Circumstances, would restore the “grandfathering” provision of Section CGS § 8-2 (called into question by a recent Appellate Court decision) so that landowners would not forfeit their vested rights to continue using their property when zoning regulations are changed.
At a hearing of the General Assembly’s Planning and Development Committee, Dubitsky discussed the impact changes to local zoning regulations could have on small businesses, farmers, and land owners who’s preexisting uses no longer meet the current zoning regulations.
“In most municipalities, the process for applying for a special permit/exemption requires hiring engineers, surveyors, soil scientists, hydrologists and attorneys, often costing tens of thousands of dollars, requiring public hearings and taking many months,” Rep. Dubitsky said. “Many individual land owners, small businesses and family farms cannot afford such an undertaking.”
Dubitsky said that while some municipalities require a special permit in order to continue a preexisting nonconforming use, a recent court case (Mackenzie v. Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Monroe, 146 Conn. App. 406 (2013)) makes this situation “completely unworkable.” In Mackenzie, the court ruled that zoning commissions lack the power to grant special permits unless all current zoning regulations are complied with.
“This puts the land owner, family farm and small business in a no-win situation where the only feasible option is to eliminate the nonconformity or cease operations and close down,” he said. “They must get a permit to continue, but even if they could afford the great expense of applying for a special permit to continue a preexisting nonconforming use, under the Mackenzie decision, the zoning commission literally cannot issue one, even if it wants to.”