Agenda - Planning Commission - 10/02/2008

Home

Zoning Bulletin Administrative Procedure-Commission member' testifies before the commission against homeowner's application Homeowner claims the" commission violated her right to fundamental fairness Citation: Barryv. Historic Dist. Com'n of Borough of Litchfield, 108 Conn. App. 682, 950 A.2d 1 (2008) , CONNECTICUT (07/01/08)-Ann Fay Barry owned a single-fam- ily residence in the borough's historic district. She sought to make ex- terior changes to her house. To that end, she filed with the borough's historic district commission an application for a certificate of appro- priateness to make the changes. ' , At the beginillng,of the hearing on Barry's application, Glenn Hill- man, a commission member, recused himself from the commission's consideration of the application. Hillman then reserved "the right to speak as an expert witness against th[ e] application." Throughout the hearing, Hillman commented extensively on the application. He com- mented as a member of the public and as an expert in architecture. At the clbse of the hearing, the commission voted to deny Barry's application. The commission incorporated some of Hillman's testi- _ mony into the application denial, ' Barry appealed. She claimed, among other things, that she had been denied a fair hearing because Hillman had testified against her application. The superior court concluded that Barry's right to fundamental fairness had been violated. The commission appealed, DECISION: Affirmed. The court held that the commission violated Barry's right to fun- damental fairness when the chairperson allowed Hillman to testify extensively as an expert against Barry's application. ' The commission had argued that i-Iillman properly could recuse himself from acting asa commission member in connection with Bar- ry's application and yet retain the right to speak against it as an ex- pert and member of the public. The court'disagreed. The court said that while proceedings before zoning and planning boards and commission were informal, they could not be "so con- 8 @ 2008 Thomson ReuterslWest 68 '-'~'\ '- _...~/ ~ \ ;; iI" I: :! ii i! 'I I' Ii " "! ji j' 11 ji II Ii II 11 ii II I' II n ,I Ii " I' Ii ii Ii I, !I il 11 d Ii I' " il !~ I! 11 Ii " 'I Ii II II !I II 1] :1 !I II J \1 I. II