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Supreme Court Upholds Interpretation of Town of Monkton Zoning Regulation

In Brisson Stone LLC, Allan Brisson, and Michael Brisson v. Town of Monkton and Claudia Orlandi, 2016 VT 15 (February 12, 2016), the Vermont Supreme Court affirmed the denial of a commercial gravel extraction permit.

Issue: Applicants appealed the denial of their commercial gravel extraction permit, arguing it was allowed under the zoning regulations and that it should have been deemed approved under 24 V.S.A. 4464(b)(1).

Holding: Using rules of statutory interpretation, the Court held that Section 564 of the Town of Monkton’s Zoning Regulation allowed the excavation of naturally occurring gravel, but not the quarrying or mining for crushed rock gravel. The Court held that the deemed-approval remedy does not foreclose an interested party’s timely appeal on the merits of the application. Since the intervenor had filed a timely cross-appeal, and the Court upheld the Environmental Division’s decision, the Court held that it did not need to address the deemed-approved arguments.

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