According to a recent state Appellate Court decision, the answer is no. Although zoning regulations commonly include provisions allowing a commission to vary procedural or substantive requirements on a case-by-case basis (e.g., frontage, landscape buffers, and setbacks), the court ruled that a commission lacks statutory authority to adopt regulations empowering itself to vary regulatory requirements when acting on a special exception request (Mackenzie v. Planning & Zoning Commission of Monroe, 146 Conn. App. 406). The court held that (1) the power to vary zoning regulations lies exclusively with the zoning board of appeals and (2) the uniformity requirement in CGS § 8-2 (which requires zoning regulations to be applied equally and fairly within a given district) precludes case-by-case variance of regulations.
So what does this mean for the many towns that have these types of provisions written into their zoning regulations? Without a legislative change, zoning commissions may choose not to waive any regulatory requirements even if their zoning regulations allow it.
