Primerica v. Planning & Zoning Commission

558 A.2d 646, 211 Conn. 85, 1989 Conn. LEXIS 114
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedMay 2, 1989
Docket13543; 13544
StatusPublished
Cited by318 cases

This text of 558 A.2d 646 (Primerica v. Planning & Zoning Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Primerica v. Planning & Zoning Commission, 558 A.2d 646, 211 Conn. 85, 1989 Conn. LEXIS 114 (Colo. 1989).

Opinion

Shea, J.

These appeals involve the zoning regulations for a tract of land in the town of Greenwich that permit its use for business executive offices by a single occupant. In the first case, the plaintiff, Primerica, then the American Can Company, brought an administrative appeal to the Superior Court after the defendant, the Greenwich planning and zoning commission (commission), denied its petition to amend the town’s zoning regulations by deleting the single executive occupancy limitation in the town’s “BEX-50” zone. The trial court dismissed the plaintiffs appeal, finding that the commission’s decision not to amend the regulations was neither arbitrary nor confiscatory. In the second case, the plaintiff challenged subsequent amendments to the zoning regulations that increased the occupancy limitation but reduced the permitted employee density. The trial court, in sustaining the plaintiff’s appeal, concluded that the commission had acted arbitrarily in the way that it amended the zoning regulations. These appeals followed.

In the first appeal, the plaintiff claims that the trial court erred in finding that the commission’s decision not to delete the single occupancy limitation was neither arbitrary nor confiscatory. In the second appeal, the commission claims that the trial court erred in concluding that: (1) the plaintiff, as a lessee, was aggrieved by the commission’s decisions; and (2) the commission acted arbitrarily in the way that it amended the zoning regulations. In its cross appeal in the second case, the plaintiff claims that the trial court erred in conclud[88]*88ing that the plaintiff did not have standing as an owner of property in New York that abutted the subject property in Connecticut. We find no error in both appeals, and we decline consideration of the issue raised in the . plaintiffs cross appeal.

The following facts are relevant to these appeals. In 1967, the construction of interstate route 87, now 1-684, isolated a 228 acre triangular parcel of land in the northwest corner of Greenwich from the remainder of the town. At that time, the parcel was within a four acre residential zone. With the construction of 1-87, however, the parcel was difficult for the town to service, because no roads from Greenwich crossed 1-87 into the parcel. Access to the parcel, therefore, could be obtained only through New York by way of King Street, a two-lane road that runs in New York parallel to the Connecticut and New York state line.1 Thus, police and fire services to the parcel would be substantially delayed. Further, the parcel was not serviced by public water or public sewage systems. The construction of 1-87 also brought with it the possible expansion of the nearby Westchester Airport, because the airport would become more accessible to Westchester and Fair-field counties. The parcel was located directly within the path of a major runway of the airport.

Not surprisingly, the commission determined that the triangular parcel was no longer suitable for residen- ' tial zoning. Accordingly, in conjunction with negotiations with the plaintiff, the commission created a new zone, the BEX-50 zone, for this parcel. The purpose [89]*89of this new zone, as stated in the Greenwich zoning regulations, was “to provide areas for business executive offices in landscaped settings with low land coverage on large tracts.” Greenwich Building Zone Regs. § 6-108 (a). The minimum lot size was set at fifty acres, and additional regulations governing the use and occupancy of property within the zone were enacted. These regulations are contained in § 6-108 of the Greenwich building zone regulations. Among the restrictions on property in the new zone were the single occupant restriction contained in § 6-108 (b) (1) (A) and the limit on employee density in § 6-108 (b) (1) (B). These subsections provided as follows: “(A) No more than one office building or group of office buildings devoted to a single executive office occupancy and use and accessory buildings shall be located on any one lot. (B) Any lot developed for executive office use in this zone shall be limited in use to a maximum number of employees on the site, determined by the size of such lot, measured in acres or fractions thereof, multiplied by a figure of twenty-five (25) employees per acre.”

After the BEX-50 zone was created, the plaintiff acquired 154.59 acres in the new zone, along with 26.62 acres in New York that abutted the Connecticut property. In 1970, the plaintiff completed construction of various buildings on the property and used the premises as its corporate headquarters. The plaintiffs facilities included a main office building and a senior executive building totaling approximately 590,000 square feet, a guest house, various outbuildings, and parking for 2539 vehicles, 2112 of which could be parked inside. At the time the BEX-50 zone was created, the commission believed that the existing roads could withstand the anticipated traffic without undue disturbance of residential areas.

Although the town’s regulations permitted 3875 employees on the site, the headquarters facilities, built [90]*90to the plaintiffs specifications, were configured in such a fashion that they had a useful capacity of only 2850 employees. At its peak activity, the plaintiff had 2400 employees at the site. A change in the plaintiffs mode of operations, however, led to the further underutilization of its facilities, because executive functions once performed by employees at the corporate headquarters were now performed by autonomous subsidiaries located throughout the country. By 1984, the plaintiff’s facilities were being used by only 1000 employees. Since the plaintiff no longer required the entire facility, it attempted to market the facility to a single executive user, as the zoning regulations would not permit it to lease the portions of the headquarters that were empty. The plaintiff, however, was unable to sell the property. The plaintiff’s real estate broker testified that the single occupancy restriction had a “major detrimental effect” on his efforts to sell the facilities.

In order to realize the value of this underutilized corporate asset and to raise cash through a sale of the property, the plaintiff petitioned the commission on October 31,1984, to amend the zoning regulations by eliminating the single occupancy limitation in the BEX-50 zone.2 At the public hearings before the commission, the volume of traffic on King Street and the impact of the proposed amendment on that volume of traffic assumed prime importance. The plaintiff presented to the commission a study on King Street traffic to demonstrate that unlimited occupancy of the subject property would generate less peak hour traffic. The commission, however, found that this study was only of limited value, because it consisted of spot studies [91]*91of much smaller office buildings. The commission also had before it a letter from the town traffic engineer, in which he indicated that multiple occupant use tends to increase off peak traffic, as there are more visitors and a duplication of deliveries and service calls. Further, the commission heard testimony and received letters from several residents and residential associations in the King Street area. These residents complained of the traffic congestion on King Street and suggested that an amendment eliminating the single executive user limitation would aggravate already dangerous conditions.

On May 7,1985, the commission denied the plaintiffs petition.

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Bluebook (online)
558 A.2d 646, 211 Conn. 85, 1989 Conn. LEXIS 114, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/primerica-v-planning-zoning-commission-conn-1989.