You wanted to know how planning commissions, zoning commissions, and combined planning and zoning commissions differ and interrelate.

SUMMARY

Planning and zoning commissions perform different but related functions, which remain separate and distinct, even when a combined planning and zoning commission performs them. Connecticut's commissions get their authority to exercise these powers from special acts or the statutes. Some statutes explicitly supercede special acts, including those linking the planning and zoning functions.

The planning and zoning functions are different. Planning involves preparing and revising a town's plan of conversation and development (plan of C & D) and regulating the way developers can subdivide raw land and prepare it for development. The latter includes requirements for drainage; parks and open space; and streets, curbs, and sidewalks.

Zoning controls how people can use their land. It establishes different categories of land uses and designates districts where those uses are allowed. It also controls the degree to which people in each zone can use their land. In Connecticut, zoning represents a higher level of control than planning since: (1) zoning does not have to conform to the plan of C & D and (2) a developer cannot legally subdivide and prepare land for uses zoning prohibits.

Connecticut law gives towns the choice of having separate commissions exercise the planning and zoning functions or placing the functions under a combined planning and zoning commission. A combined commission stills performs the functions separately.

While Connecticut law keeps the functions separate, it requires zoning commissions and combined planning and zoning commissions exercising zoning powers to consider the plan of C & D when taking certain actions. The commissions must do this when adopting regulations. Separate zoning commissions must also request a report from the planning commission about the consistency of proposed zone changes with the plan while combined commissions must include a finding about consistency in the record of their decision.

LEGAL AUTHORITY

Planning and zoning are state powers that legislatures have delegated to towns. Connecticut towns exercise these powers by adopting the planning and zoning statutes or through special acts that predate these statutes. Before the legislature adopted the statutes, towns could customize their planning and zoning powers by having the legislature pass special acts on their behalf. But the legislature ended this practice when it adopted the planning and zoning statutes, which the towns without special acts had to adopt if they wanted to exercise planning and zoning powers.

Despite the distinction between special acts and the statutes, some statutes explicitly supercede special acts while others apply only when special acts are silent on a matter. Other statutes do not indicate if they supercede special acts, and the courts have not ruled consistently on this matter.

PLANNING AND ZONING FUNCTIONS

Planning and zoning are separate and distinct ways through which towns regulate how people can use their land. The distinction holds up even when towns put these functions under one roof, namely a combined planning and zoning commission.

Planning

Planning involves two functions: preparing and revising the town's plan of C & D and regulating the way people subdivide and develop land.

Plan of Conservation and Development. The plan recommends the most desirable land uses, based on physical, social, and economic conditions and trends. Ideally, it helps local agencies coordinate physical development, control public improvements, and regulate subdivision. Under Connecticut law, the plan can recommend "a program for the enactment and enforcement of zoning and subdivision controls, building and housing codes, and safety regulations…"(CGS Sec. 8-23).

Subdivision. This is the process through which a developer splits a tract of land into smaller parcels, lots, or building sites so that he can sell or develop them or do both. The manner in which a developer subdivides land; lays out streets and lots; and sells homes, stores, and factories sets the pattern for the town's future development. Theoretically, good subdivision regulations can help towns hold the line on municipal expenditures. They can help ensure that neighborhoods are properly laid out and that new streets, sidewalks, drains and ditches, and parks will require little maintenance.

Municipal Improvements. The planning function includes commenting on the location of proposed streets, parks, schools, public housing projects, and utilities. Connecticut law requires local agencies to refer proposed projects to their planning commissions for comment (CGS Sec. 8-24).

Zoning

Area Controls. While the plan of conservation and development recommends desirable land uses, zoning dictates what those uses actually are and where. The zoning function involves two levels of control. The first specifies the geographic areas where each type of use is permitted. Zoning divides the town into districts or zones based on present and potential uses. Each district allows different types of uses as of right and others under special conditions.

For example, a district may allow single-family homes as of right and small convenience stores under conditions the zoning regulations specify. The conditions may allow a store if it provides enough off-street parking space and the developer agrees to plants trees to screen the store from the surrounding homes.

Use Controls. The second level of control involves regulations for situating the uses allowed in each district. The regulations specify, for example, the minimum size of lots, the amount of land a building can cover on the lot, the maximum height of buildings, and the amount of space there must be between the building and adjacent properties. These requirements can vary from district to district, but they must apply uniformly to all properties within each district.

Some towns use the zoning function to promote certain policy objectives. For example, Connecticut towns can allow developers to build more housing units than the zoning regulations normally allow if they agree to make some of the extra units affordable to low- and moderate-income people.

Zoning v. Subdivision. Zoning represents a higher level of control than subdivision. A developer cannot subdivide and develop land for a specific use unless the zoning regulations allow it. Connecticut law bars subdivisions from being approved if they conflict with the zoning regulations (CGS Sec. 8-26).

ORGANIZATIONAL OPTIONS FOR EXERCISING THE POWERS

The statutes allow towns to establish separate planning and zoning commissions or combined planning and zoning commissions. Whether separated or combined, the commissions must still exercise the planning and zoning functions separately. A combined commission must still follow the planning statutes when preparing the planning of C & D and approving subdivisions. And it must comply with the zoning statutes when approving site plans, granting special permits, or changing zoning regulations.

But the zoning statute allows an exception to this rule. Towns can have their planning commissions issue special permits, which is a zoning function (CGS Sec. 8-2).

The statutes also give towns the choice of assigning certain functions to the planning or zoning commission. A town can choose either commission to charge developers fees in lieu of parking spaces (CGS 8-2c).

PLAN OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Advisory Document

The plan of C & D links the two powers. As noted above, the plan may recommend zoning regulations. The zoning statute requires zoning commissions or the combined commissions exercising the zoning power to consider the plan when adopting regulations. The plan is strictly an advisory document and does not control zoning decisions. If a combined commission prepared the plan, it might consider it more thoroughly than a separate zoning commission, which is not responsible for preparing the plan.

(The zoning statute also requires the commission to adopt the regulations in accordance with "a comprehensive plan." But the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that this plan is not the same as the plan of C & D. In a 1973 decision, the court ruled that the comprehensive plan "is to be found in the scheme of the zoning regulations themselves and not within the 'master plan' of development (First Hartford Realty Corp. v. Planning and Zoning Commission of the Town of Bloomfield, 165 Connecticut 533 (1973)).

Zone Changes

The statutes require separate zoning commissions and combined planning and zoning commissions to consider the plan of C & D before acting on proposed zone changes. A separate zoning commission must refer these changes to the planning commission for a report on their consistency with the plan of C & D. It must do this at least 35 days before the hearing on the changes. The planning commission must report back before or during the hearing. The zoning commission must approve any change the planning commission rejects by a two-thirds vote (CGS Sec. 8-3a (b)).

When acting on a zone change, a combined planning and zoning commission must include in its findings whether the change is consistent with the plan of C & D (CGS Sec. 8-3a(a)).

JR:gt