Wolcott SD Final Plat Denial - Decision on Motions

CourtVermont Superior Court
DecidedMarch 9, 2022
Docket57-8-20 Vtec
StatusPublished

This text of Wolcott SD Final Plat Denial - Decision on Motions (Wolcott SD Final Plat Denial - Decision on Motions) 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.

Bluebook
Wolcott SD Final Plat Denial - Decision on Motions, (Vt. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

VERMONT SUPERIOR COURT Environmental Division Docket No. 57-8-20 Vtec 32 Cherry St, 2nd Floor, Suite 303, Burlington, VT 05401 802-951-1740 www.vermontjudiciary.org

│ │ In re Wolcott SD Final Plat Denial │ DECISION ON MOTIONS │ │

James Wolcott (“Applicant”) and neighbor David Hering (“Neighbor”) have filed cross motions for summary judgment in Mr. Wolcott’s appeal from a final decision of the Town of Cambridge Development Review Board (“DRB”) denying his application for subdivision approval. The Town of Cambridge (“Town”) joins and adopts Neighbor’s motion for summary judgment and opposition to Applicant’s motion. Also before the Court is Neighbor’s motion to supplement his Statement of Undisputed Material Facts. Applicant is self-represented. Neighbor is represented by Claudine Safar, Esq. and Christian Chorba, Esq. The Town is represented by James Barlow, Esq.

Background Applicant is seeking to subdivide a parcel of land he owns on Gallup Brook Lane in the Town of Cambridge (“the Property”). Applicant proposes to divide the roughly 80-acre parcel into three lots. He filed his application for final plat approval with the DRB in May and June of 2020. The DRB held a public hearing on that application on July 13, 2020 and denied approval in a final decision dated July 24, 2020.

Prior to applying for approval from the Town, Applicant completed a project review sheet with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The review sheet underwent multiple revisions based on amendments to Mr. Wolcott’s proposal, with what we understand to be the final version published on March 5, 2020. See Neighbor’s Exh. 1, Wolcott Subdivision Application at 10–12 (hereinafter “Subdivision Application”). For the DEC review, which takes 1 place under state environmental permitting requirements, Mr. Wolcott proposed to subdivide the parcel into Lot 1 (7.5 acres) Lot 2 (6.8 acres) and Lot 3 (roughly 65 acres). He proposed that Lots 1 and 2 would each be developed with one single-family residence, on-site wastewater system and potable water supply. He proposed no new development for Lot 3 and indicated that he would remove four of the existing six structures located there, leaving a 12’ x 12’ primitive camp and 10’ x 40’ box trailer to be used as personal storage. Id.

Through that review, the District Coordinator determined that the proposed project did not trigger Act 250 jurisdiction, as it did not constitute development as defined in the Act 250 rules. Additionally, the DEC Assistant Regional Engineer determined that a state wastewater system and potable water supply permit was required for the creation of residences on Lots 1 and 2. Finally, the DEC Permit specialist issued a preliminary non-binding opinion that multiple other state permits as well as local permits were likely required. Id. We understand the DRB opinion to indicate that Mr. Wolcott subsequently applied for and received a wastewater and potable water supply permit from the State. See In re James Wolcott, Permit No. SD-2020-02, Findings of Facts ¶ 6 (Tn. of Cambridge Dev. Review Bd., July 24, 2020) (hereinafter “In re Permit No. SD-2020-02”).

We discuss these prior applications in some detail to clarify a point of apparent confusion. Mr. Wolcott, through his subdivision application and his filings, has repeatedly and mistakenly suggested that DEC had approved of his plans for the subdivision and that this entitled him to municipal approval. The project review sheet is very clear that it is not a permit, but rather an opinion as to which permits and state approvals a proposed project may require—it says in bold print at the top of the first page, “This is not a permit.” To be clear, even had a state agency issued one permit for a project, that would not, absent other facts, preclude a local zoning board or other decision maker from denying local permit approvals. Further, different local and state statutes in Vermont have different definitions of terms such as “development” and whether a project constitutes development under one statute may be unrelated to whether it is development under a different statute.

2 Mr. Wolcott’s cover letter to his subdivision application describes the project in terms that largely mirror the March 5, 2020 DEC project review sheet. See Subdivision Application at 1–3. He proposes three lots, with approval for one single family home each on Lots 1 and 2 and no new development on Lot 3. The cover letter also suggests that there are or were existing structures on all three lots. As to Lot 3, it suggests that “two structures shall remain” after subdivision and “the rest shall be removed,” without indicating the number to be removed or the nature of each structure. Id. While the plat map submitted with his application, however, depicts existing structures on Lots 1 and 2, it does not depict any existing structures on Lot 3. See Id. at 4, “Subdivision Plat.”

Discussion Before turning to the cross motions for summary judgment, we offer one clarification based on the party’s filings and address the outstanding motion. First, Neighbor’s motion for summary judgment indicates his understanding that we have not yet addressed Applicant’s first motion to amend his statement of questions.1 We granted that motion, however, on the record at a status conference held on December 21, 2020, at which Neighbor was represented by different counsel. We understand the confusion may in part have been generated by the fact that our decision on Neighbor’s motion to strike Mr. Wolcott’s Statement of Questions2 referred exclusively to the Statement of Questions as filed on August 10, 2020. We apologize for this confusion; however, having granted this motion on the record and not addressed its questions in the motion to strike, we must treat these questions as having become part of the Statement of Questions.

I. Motion to admit Supplemental Statement of Undisputed Material Facts:

1 Neighbor subsequently filed a second motion to amend the Statement of Questions, which we denied as the proposed additional questions raised issues outside the scope of our subject matter jurisdiction. In re Wolcott SD Final Plat Denial, No. 57-8-20 Vtec, slip op. at 5 (Vt. Super. Ct. Envtl. Div. Mar. 4, 2021) (Walsh, J.). 2 We treated this motion as one to dismiss the appeal under 12(b)(1), since the arguments were directed at the legal sufficiency of the claims. Wolcott SD Final Plat Denial, 57-8-20 Vtec, slip op. at 2 (Vt. Super. Ct. Envtl. Div. Aug. 11, 2021) (Walsh, J.).

3 There is an outstanding motion by Neighbor to allow him to supplement his Statement of Undisputed Material Facts. Neighbor filed that motion after receiving Applicant’s response to his original Statement of Undisputed Material Facts and cross motion for summary judgment. Through that response, Applicant claimed there existed a genuine dispute of material fact as to whether any structures existed on Lot 3 at the time he submitted his subdivision application. Neighbor has therefore moved to add three additional paragraphs to his Statement of Undisputed Material Facts, supported by four exhibits, which, he claims, provide further evidence that these structures existed. Because we find below that Applicant has not created any genuine dispute of material fact as to the existence of those structures, we DENY this motion as moot.

II. Cross Motions for Summary Judgment

To prevail on a motion for summary judgment, the moving party must demonstrate “that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” V.R.C.P. 56(a), applicable here through V.R.E.C.P. 5. The nonmoving party “receives the benefit of all reasonable doubts and inferences,” but must respond with more than unsupported allegations in order to show that material facts are in dispute. Robertson v.

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