Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/02/2017

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January 25, 2017 I Volume 11 I Issue 2 Zoning Bulletin. Pursuant to the Town's zoning ordinance (the "Ordinance"), the use of "School, Public or Private Elementary or Secondary" (hereinafter "Secondary School") was permitted, with prior authorization from the Planning Board, in the zoning districts of the agricultural lot and the residential lot. The Ordinance defined Secondary School as a "place where courses of study which are suf- ficient to qualify attendance as compliance with State compulsory education requirements for grades Kindergarten through 12 are taught." State of Maine education requirements include programs of instruction in: "career and educa- tion development, English language arts, health education and physical educa- tion, mathematics, science and technology, social studies, visual and perform- ing arts and world languages." The Planning Board determined that the Academy's proposed uses on each of the parcels qualified as a Secondary School uses under the Ordinance. The Planning Board approved the Academy's applications for both parcels. Thereafter, Fryeburg Trust (the "Trust"), which owned property abutting both lots, appealed the Planning Board's decisions. The Trust contended that the Academy's proposed use of each of the parcels did not qualify as a Sec- ondary School use permitted in the lot's zoning district under the Ordinance. The Trust contended that since "[n]o complete courses . . . much less all mandated courses" would be taught in the outdoor classroom, then the out- door classroom did not qualify as Secondary School use. The Trust also contended that since the administrative offices would be for administration and not teaching, the administrative office use did not qualify as a Secondary School use. The Town's Board of Appeals (the "BOA") denied the Trust's appeals. The Trust then filed appeals in superior court. The Superior Court affirmed the Planning Board's decision to grant the permit for the outdoor classroom. The court concluded that, pursuant to the Ordinance, the proposed use of the agricultural lot was an educational use because classes would be taught there. The court, however, vacated the Plan- ning Board's decision to grant the administrative office use permit. The court concluded that the proposed administrative office use was not an educational use because classes would not be taught there. The Trust appealed from the court's decision affirming the outdoor classroom use permit. The Academy and Town cross -appealed from the court's decision vacating the administrative office use permit. DECISION: Judgment of superior court affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded. The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine held that both proposed uses —the outdoor classroom and the administrative offices —were within the definition of Secondary School and therefore permitted uses under the Ordinance. In reaching its conclusion, the court looked to "construe the terms of [the Ordinance] reasonably, considering its purposes and structure and to avoid absurd or illogical results." "Reading the plain language of the Ordinance together with the State educational requirements," the court concluded that the Academy's proposed outdoor classroom use to teach courses, including physi- cal education and science, to students attending a secondary school fit 6 © 2017 Thomson Reuters