East Side Civic Assn. v. Planning and Zoning Comm‪.‬

The defendant State Leasing, Inc., owner of
property located in a B-2 Zone on State
Street in the city of Hamden, applied, through the
DeMatteo Construction Company, to the planning and
zoning commission of the town of Hamden for
approval of a site plan to erect two buildings on
a parcel of land intended to be used as an office
for the department of motor vehicles of the state
of Connecticut. The site plan, as revised, was
approved by the planning section of the planning
and zoning commission on April 14, 1970, by a
vote of four to one. The plaintiffs appealed to
the Court of Common Pleas from the approval of the
site plan by "the Planning Section of said
Commission," claiming that "[i]n approving said
site plan, said Section, and therefore said
Commission, acted illegally, arbitrarily, and in
abuse of the discretion vested in it." The Court
of Common Pleas dismissed the appeal for lack of
jurisdiction on a motion to dismiss by the
defendant State Leasing, Inc., finding in its
judgment that the plaintiffs are without standing
to appeal and that the court lacks jurisdiction. At the outset we are confronted with the power
of the Court of Common Pleas to hear the appeal.
Whenever the absence of jurisdiction of the court
is brought to its attention the matter must `be
decided before any further action is taken. White
v. Planning & Zoning Commission, 149 Conn. 746,
747, 183 A.2d 749; Bardes v. Zoning Board, 141 Conn. 317,
318, 106 A.2d 160; Marcil v. A. H. Merriman
& Sons, Inc., 115 Conn. 678, 682, 163 A. 411.
The court can dismiss the proceedings on its own
[161 Conn. 560]