CONSTITUTIONAL LAW - ZONING - AMENDMENT OF ZONING ORDINANCE AS IMPAIRING VESTED RIGHTS

The town plan commission amended the municipal zoning ordinance to permit the erection of an incinerator in a class C residence district. The particular tract upon which the incinerator was to be located had been a municipal garbage dump, and as such, a non-conforming use under the zoning ordinance. The board of health by ordinance declared the garbage dump to be a nuisance. The facts revealed there was an immediate need to dispose of the garbage, etc.; that the erection of an incinerator was the best means of so doing; that the proposed site was a suitable location; that the commission acted fairly following a careful investigation of the problem; that the particular site would have been undesirable for residential purposes because of the previous user; and that the proposed structure and cleaning up of the dump would enhance property values in the district.

The plaintiffs, residents of the district, contended that they obtained a vested interest in the zoning ordinance as determined by the standard of a class C residence zone apart from actual conditions, and that the change in the ordinance constituted a taking of their property without due process of law. Held, the action of the commission was a reasonable exercise of police power, even assuming the premise asserted by the plaintiffs. De Palma v. Town Plan Commission of Greenwich, (Conn. 1937) 193 A. 868.