Mad River Valley Ambulance Service
This text of Mad River Valley Ambulance Service (Mad River Valley Ambulance Service) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Vermont Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.
Opinion
STATE OF VERMONT
ENVIRONMENTAL COURT
} In re: Mad River Valley Ambulance Service } (Appeal of Siebert and Lawson) } Docket No. 137-7-05 Vtec }
Decision and Order on Motions to Dismiss and for Summary Judgment
Appellants Kirsten Siebert and Sandy Lawton appealed from a decision of the
Planning Commission of the Town of Waitsfield dated June 23, 2005, approving Appellee-
Applicant Mad River Valley Ambulance Service=s application to amend three conditions of
its 1999 permit. Appellants are represented by Paul Gillies, Esq.; Appellee-Applicant Mad
River Valley Ambulance Service is represented by John W. O=Donnell, Esq.; the Town is
represented by Joseph McLean, Esq.; Interested Person Jean Sherman appeared and
represents herself; and Interested Person Roberta Bonnette appeared through her
daughter, Necia Massey, who holds a power of attorney on her behalf.
Appellee-Applicant has moved to dismiss the appeal for lack of standing of both
Appellants and for raising issues beyond the scope of the Planning Commission=s
proceedings. Appellants have moved for summary judgment on the issue of party status
and also arguing that the Planning Commission was without jurisdiction to amend conditions in the permit, which they characterize as a conditional use permit. All
references to statutory sections are to the statutes as amended in 2004. The following
facts are undisputed unless otherwise noted.
Standing of Appellants Kirsten Siebert and Sandy Lawson
Appellants both reside at 4199 Main Street, adjacent to Appellee-Applicant=s facility.
No party disputes that they meet the interested person definition in 24 V.S.A.
'4465(b)(3). However, in order to bring an appeal to the Environmental Court, 10 V.S.A.
'8504(b)(1), an interested person must also satisfy the participation requirements of 24
V.S.A. '4471(a). Participation is defined in 24 V.S.A. '4471(a) as consisting of Aoffering,
through oral or written testimony, evidence or a statement of concern related to the subject
of the proceeding.@
As appears from the minutes at page 4, Appellant Kirsten Siebert attended the
October 6, 2004 public hearing and testified at that hearing. 1[1] Moreover, she submitted
1[1] AKirsten Siebert, abutter, reported that this lot is used as a U-turn for cars, trailers,
dump trucks, etc. and is bad for children.@ Minutes of October 6, 2004 Planning Commission
public hearing, at 4. at least one2[2] letter to the Planning Commission, on January 28, 2005, stating her
concerns regarding Appellee-Applicant=s facility. She therefore qualifies as an interested
person, under 24 V.S.A. '4465(b)(3), who participated in the proceedings as required by
24 V.S.A. '4471(a). Accordingly, Appellee-Applicant=s motion to dismiss Appellant Kirsten
Siebert is HEREBY DENIED, and therefore its motion to dismiss the appeal is also
DENIED.
On the other hand, while Mr. Lawton qualifies as an interested person under 24
V.S.A. '4465(b)(3), he did not participate in the proceedings below as required by 24
V.S.A. '4471(a) and 10 V.S.A. '8504(b)(1). The written submission made by Appellant
Kirsten Siebert was signed only by her; Mr. Lawton has not proffered any instances of
written or oral submissions made by him. Accordingly, he has not met the participation
requirement to qualify as an appellant under 24 V.S.A. '4471(a).
2[2] See also Planning Commission June 23, 2005 Notice of Decision, listing three items of
written correspondence received from Ms. Siebert, two addressed to the Planning Commission, and
one addressed to Appellee-Applicant. However, the requirement that a party have participated in the hearing below, 24
V.S.A. '4471(a), is only a prerequisite for bringing an appeal; it is not required in order to
participate as an interested person in an appeal brought by another, 10 V.S.A.
'8504(b)(1). See, e.g., Appeal of Sparkman, Docket No. 208-11-04 Vtec (Vt. Envtl. Ct,
March 7, 2005) (entry order, cited in published decision of March 22, 2005) (parties
dismissed for lack of standing allowed to apply in writing to Acontinue as interested parties
in the Sparkman appeal if they only meet 24 V.S.A. ' 4465(b)(3)@).
Appellee-Applicant=s motion to dismiss Mr. Lawton as a party appellant is HEREBY
GRANTED, without prejudice to his applying to continue in the appeal as an interested
party.
Standing of Roberta Bonnette and Jean Sherman
These two parties entered their respective appearances as interested persons after
the appeal was filed; they did not file the appeal as parties appellant. Accordingly, their
failure to present the required Astatement of concern@ regarding this application at the
hearings would not of itself bar them from participating in the appeal brought by
Appellants, as long as the appeal is not dismissed for other reasons.
On the other hand, any interested person must demonstrate the requisite interest
for individual standing under 24 V.S.A. '4465(b)(3). Without knowing the location of
these individuals= properties or how they may be alleged to be affected by the proposed project, we cannot determine whether they may have or lack standing to participate in the
appeal. Accordingly, Appellee-Applicant=s motion to dismiss them is DENIED on the
ground stated, but without prejudice to its renewal on other grounds, if applicable. Please
be prepared to discuss at the conference whether any discovery is required to address
such renewed motion.
Scope of De Novo Proceeding; Jurisdiction of the Planning Commission
Appellee-Applicant has moved to dismiss on the grounds that the four issues raised
in the statement of questions were not raised to the Planning Commission, or not raised by
Appellants. Appellants have moved for summary judgment on the grounds that the
Planning Commission had no jurisdiction of this application, as it was or should have been
filed with the Zoning Board of Adjustment as an application to amend a conditional use
permit.
This Court stands in the place of the Planning Commission, and may take whatever
action on the application that the Planning Commission could have taken regarding the
application before it. Issues regarding the Planning Commission=s subject-matter jurisdiction
(and hence the jurisdiction of the Court in this de novo appeal), may be raised at any time.
However, without the application that was before the Planning Commission we are unable to determine what action was requested of the Planning Commission, and therefore
whether that request was properly within the Planning Commission=s jurisdiction. That is, if
the conditions that Appellee-Applicant is seeking to change originated in the Planning
Commission=s site plan approval, it is possible that they need to be ruled on by the
Planning Commission as an amendment to the site plan approval, in advance of (or instead
of) the ZBA=s consideration of those issues in connection with conditional use approval. Accordingly, we do not now rule on the Motion to Dismiss or on the Motion for
Summary Judgment on these issues. On or before December 8, 2005, Appellee-
Applicant shall submit copies of the original site plan approval decision (or minutes),
original conditional use approval decision(or minutes), and zoning permit, as well as the
current application (without attachments). We will hold a telephone conference on
Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI
Cite This Page — Counsel Stack
Mad River Valley Ambulance Service, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mad-river-valley-ambulance-service-vtsuperct-2005.