Judge warns proposed change to zoning appeals standing would broaden who can sue

Chief Superior Judge Tom Zote told the Natural Resources & Energy Committee Thursday that draft language in H.479 replacing the current "interested person" test for municipal zoning appeals with a "person aggrieved" standard tied to 24 V.S.A. § 4302 would broaden who can seek review.

"So I want to be very clear. The decisions as to the matters we'll talk about today are policy decisions for the legislation. You will decide how what the appeal look like. ... Wherever you decide that, we will implement, and we will do it in a timely fashion that provides due process to the parties and applies facts to the law that the legislature has," Judge Zote said.

The draft replaces the statutory definition that an "interested person" is someone who owns or occupies property in the immediate neighborhood and can show a physical or environmental impact, or a petition by a group (historically 10 or 20…