Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/11/2004

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?, Z.B. January 25, 2004 -- Page 5 It was undisputed the road had notbeen accepted formally by the town as a public road. Private roads, including subdivision streets, became public roads by either statutory dedication and acceptance or common law dedication and acceptance. The planning and zoning commission had no power to determine property..' rights. Its authority was limited to determining whether the subdivision appli- cation complied with applicable regulations. It could not make a determination of legal rights. The planning and zoning commission was required to proceed on the basis of whether the application, met local requirements. The planning and zoning commission had no authority to accept the road as a public high.way under the common law approach. Common law acceptance of a road as a pubLic road had to involve a civil action in conn. Citation: Fernandes v. Newtown Planning & Zoning Commission, Superior Court of Connecticut, Judicial District of Danbury, at Danbury, No. CV030348418 (2003). see also: Property Group Inc. v. Planning & Zoning Commission, 628 Ai2d 1277 (1993). see also: Cybulski v. Planning & Zoning Commission, 682 A.2d 1073 (I994). Approval -- University asks board to approve improvement plan Zoning officials impose condition of 24-hour complaint hotline DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA (12/04/03) --Georgetown University sought approval of its campus improvement plan from the District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment. The board approved the plan. HoWeYer,.because of neighborhood concerns regarding the objectionable living habits of college students, the board im- posed a condition on the approval that requi~ed the university to. maintain a 24 hours per day, 7 days per week complaint hotline. The university sued, arguing the hottine condition was unreasonable. DECISION: Judgment in favor of Georgetown. The board's imposition of an "around-the-clock" staffed hotline was arbi- tray and irrational. The hotline condition was unrelated to the board's expertise and did not promote the goal of a reasonable accommodation between the university and its neighbors. The board's order required the board's consent for any modification of the hotliue's hours, even if the university discovered the hotline received no calls, or very few calls, during weekdays and weeknights, or mornings. In fact, the hodine received reports of 19 incidents over 91 days. Any of these problems could have been reported to the police or. some other municipal agency. These statistics suggested the operation of the hotline 24 hours per day, seven days per week. was not close to being cost effective. 111