Klug v. Inland Wetlands Commission

619 A.2d 8, 30 Conn. App. 85, 1993 Conn. App. LEXIS 29
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJanuary 19, 1993
Docket11080; 11081
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 619 A.2d 8 (Klug v. Inland Wetlands Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Klug v. Inland Wetlands Commission, 619 A.2d 8, 30 Conn. App. 85, 1993 Conn. App. LEXIS 29 (Colo. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

Schaller, J.

The defendants, Eugene F. Green and the Torrington Inland Wetlands Commission (commission), appeal from the judgment of the trial court sustaining the plaintiff’s appeal from a decision of the commission. The dispositive issues are (1) whether the plaintiff was entitled to party status before the commission under General Statutes §§ 4-166 (8)1 and 4-177a2 of the [87]*87Uniform Administrative Procedure Act (UAPA), and (2) whether the commission was required to hold a new public hearing upon remand from the previous trial court decision concerning this matter. We hold that the UAPA does not apply to proceedings before the commission, and, further, that the commission was not required to conduct an additional public hearing in order to comply with General Statutes § 22a-41.* *3 We, therefore, remand this case to the trial court with direction to remand to the commission for further proceedings in order to comply with the directive of § 22a-41.

The facts, which are essentially undisputed, involve an earlier appeal to this court as well as several proceedings before the commission. Klug v. Inland Wetlands Commission, 19 Conn. App. 713, 563 A.2d 755 (1989) (hereinafter Klug I). In November, 1987, Eugene F. Green applied to the commission for a permit to conduct certain regulated activities in a wetlands area in [88]*88Torrington. On March 22,1988, after a public hearing, the commission granted Green’s application and published notice of its decision in a local newspaper. In April, 1988, the plaintiff, an abutting landowner, appealed from the commission’s decision to the trial court, naming and serving as defendants the commission and the state department of environmental protection. That appeal was taken pursuant to General Statutes (Rev. to 1987) § 22a-43, as amended by Public Acts 1987, No. 87-338,4 which governed the appeal to the Superior Court.

The commission moved to dismiss the plaintiff’s appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, on the basis of her failure to name and serve Green as a defendant. The court dismissed the plaintiff’s appeal, and the first appeal to this court followed. We held that the trial court improperly ruled that General Statutes § 4-183, rather than § 22a-43, governed the plaintiff’s appeal. Klug I, supra. We further held that a UAPA agency is statutorily defined as a state agency, concluding that the commission was a local agency not acting as an agent of the state when it granted the challenged permit. Id.

[89]*89Thereafter, the trial court, Moraghan, J., heard the case on remand and, by decision dated September 4, 1990, rendered judgment remanding the application to the commission for “further proceedings addressing each and every one of the criteria in terms of declaring a finding on the mandate of no feasible and prudent alternative in accordance with § 22a-41 (b) of the General Statutes.” After Judge Moraghan’s remand, the commission held several meetings at which it discussed the Green application. At the meeting on December 18,1990, the plaintiff presented several petitions to the commission, including a petition for party status made pursuant to General Statutes §§4-166 (8) and 4-177a (a) and a petition for permission to present additional evidence. The commission did not act as a whole on the petitions or on the matter of whether a new public hearing should be held. The chair of the commission indicated, however, that the commission declined to entertain the Klug petitions, neither granting nor denying them. Acting on the advice of its counsel that the commission was not empowered to hold a further public hearing on the matter, the chair further indicated that the commission would not take any additional evidence on the Green application.

On March 27, 1991, the commission granted the Green application in part and denied it in part. Regarding the portions of the application that were granted, the commission indicated that “no prudent and feasible alternatives” exist. The commission, however, neither specified the reasons for those findings nor addressed the criteria specified in § 22a-41, as ordered by Judge Moraghan. The decision of March 27, 1991, was appealed to the Superior Court pursuant to the provisions of §§ 22a-43 and 4-183.

On appeal, the trial court, Pickett, J., rendered judgment in the plaintiff’s favor, holding that the commission acted illegally, arbitrarily, and in abuse of its [90]*90discretion (1) in failing to grant the plaintiff party status or to consider the petitions that she had filed, and (2) in failing to hold a public hearing as it understood Judge Moraghan had directed on September 4, 1992. This appeal followed.

The defendants raise two principal claims in this appeal: (1) that the trial court improperly held that the commission should have granted party status to the plaintiff pursuant to General Statutes §§ 4-166 (8) and 4-177a (a); and (2) that the trial court improperly found that, on remand following Judge Moraghan’s decision, the commission was required to hold a new public hearing. We find the defendants’ arguments persuasive.

I

The defendants correctly assert that the UAPA does not govern procedures before an inland wetlands commission. Rather the UAPA applies only to appealsjrom the commission to the Superior Court. As such, the plaintiff was not entitled to party status pursuant to §§ 4-166 (8) and 4-177a of the UAPA.

We are mindful that in analyzing legislative action our goal is to “ascertain and give effect to the apparent intent of the legislature.” State v. Blasko, 202 Conn. 541, 553, 522 A.2d 753 (1987). In doing so, “[w]e look first to the plain, unambiguous language of the statute.” Arway v. Bloom, 29 Conn. App. 469, 473, 615 A.2d 1075 (1992), citing Rhodes v. Hartford, 201 Conn. 89, 93, 513 A.2d 124 (1986). Absent any ambiguity, we cannot properly engage in an analysis of the history underlying a governing statute. Arway v. Bloom, supra.

In this case, the relevant language of the Inland Wetlands Act then in effect is plain and unambiguous. General Statutes (Rev. to 1987) § 22a-43 (a), as amended by Public Acts 1987, No. 87-338, provides in pertinent part that “any person owning or occupying land which [91]*91abuts any portion of land . . . involved in any regulation, order, decision or action made pursuant to [the Inland Wetlands Act] may appeal to the superior court ... in accordance with the provisions of section 4-183.” This language on its face indicates that the legislature intended to do no more than provide a procedural framework for appeals taken from the commission to the Superior Court. A plain reading of that statutory language leaves no room for doubt as to this limited legislative purpose.

Indeed, in Klug I, supra, we held that the commission was a local board and not subject to the provisions of the UAPA. Although the legislature has amended § 4-183 since our decision in Klug I,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Yorgensen v. Chapdelaine
Connecticut Appellate Court, 2014
Durso v. Vessichio
828 A.2d 1280 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2003)
Ginsburg Development v. Litchfield Pzc, No. Cv01-0085213s (Sep. 30, 2002)
2002 Conn. Super. Ct. 12144 (Connecticut Superior Court, 2002)
Office of the Mun. Clerk v. Foic, No. Cv 00 050 06 45s (Apr. 3, 2001)
2001 Conn. Super. Ct. 4777 (Connecticut Superior Court, 2001)
Ottiano v. Shetucket Plumbing Supply Co.
767 A.2d 128 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2001)
MacAluso v. MacAluso, No. Fa 930130085s (May 7, 1997)
1997 Conn. Super. Ct. 4876 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1997)
Biller v. Allstate Insurance Company, No. Cv 95 0553224-S (Aug. 30, 1996)
1996 Conn. Super. Ct. 5252-N (Connecticut Superior Court, 1996)
Brothers v. American Home, No. Cv 940364725s (Aug. 25, 1995)
1995 Conn. Super. Ct. 9286 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1995)
C M Technology, Inc. v. the Travelers Ins. Co., No. 072968 (Apr. 5, 1995)
1995 Conn. Super. Ct. 3959 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1995)
Gluck v. Johnson, No. Cv92 29 77 41 S (Mar. 14, 1995)
1995 Conn. Super. Ct. 2044 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1995)
Ohmes v. Government Employees Insurance Company, No. 316002 (Jan. 11, 1995)
1995 Conn. Super. Ct. 950 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1995)
Sharp v. Wyatt, Inc.
627 A.2d 1347 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 1993)
Black v. London & Egazarian Associates, Inc.
620 A.2d 176 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
619 A.2d 8, 30 Conn. App. 85, 1993 Conn. App. LEXIS 29, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/klug-v-inland-wetlands-commission-connappct-1993.