Walsh v. City of Ansonia
Walsh v. City of Ansonia
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff, who is the owner of land in the city of Ansonia, bounded southerly by the highway known
The committee reported to the common council, in substance, that they had been unable from any known records, to find the original lines of the street, and that as most of the monuments which were supposed to mark the original lines, as established some forty years prior to that time, had either been displaced or removed, the committee had caused a civil engineer to survey and lay out the street so as to cause as little injury as possible to the abutting landowners, and at the same time retain the city’s right to a fifty foot street, and that the committee recommended the adoption of a layout described in a map accompanying the report made by said civil engineer, as the lines for said Third street. “ To do this,” say the committee at the close of the report, “ it will be necessary to give a hearing to the property owners, as it is in fact, a new layout.”
After the above report was made the following notice, addressed to the plaintiff, and signed by the defendants and countersigned by the city clerk, was sent to the plaintiff: “Notice of Hearing on Layout on Street Lines for Third street. . . . You are hereby notified to appear before the undersigned, a committee appointed by the board of common council of the city of Ansonia (naming time and place), then and there to be heard relative to establishing, changing, and locating a layout or street line for Third street, in said Ansonia.”
The foregoing is the substance of the first seven paragraphs of the complaint.
Paragraph 8 of the complaint alleges that the defendants, under said pretended notice and appointment, “ threaten to make a new layout of said Third street, placing the same arbitrarily, according to their own notions, without regard
The complaint prays for an injunction to restrain the defendants from making a new layout of Third street by said committee, or in any manner, except in pursuance of the provision of the city charter, and from removing the bounds of said highway through said committee.
To this complaint the defendants demur. The grounds of the demurrer are in substance: (1) That it appeal's from the complaint that in proceeding to make said layout the city authorities are acting in all respects in accordance with law, and in the exercise of the powers conferred by the city charter to lay out and alter its highways; (2) that the facts alleged fail to show that the plaintiff will sustain such loss and damage as will justify the granting of the injunction asked for. The plaintiff has appealed from the judgment of the Superior Court sustaining the demurrer.
The right of the city of Ansonia to make a new layout of Third street which may change the lines as they were originally established, and which may necessitate the removal of monuments marking the old lines, is granted by the charter which gives to the city exclusive authority and control over its streets, and the sole and exclusive power to lay out, alter
Such a conclusion is not justified by the facts alleged. On the contrary, from the report of that committee, considered in connection with the notice which was afterwards sent to the plaintiff, both of which are set forth in full in the complaint, it is manifest that the committee have never attempted the exercise of such power; and that neither they nor the common council have supposed that the committee, under their appointment, was authorized, or possessed the power, to make a new layout of Third street. The committee do say in their report that they have instructed a civil engineer “to survey and lay out said street”; but can it be fairly claimed that these words indicate an intention on the part of the committee to themselves make the layout, when in the same report they recommend to the mayor and common council the adoption of the layout described in the maps submitted with the report, and say to the common council that its adoption will involve the making of a new layout, and the giving of a hearing to property owners ?
It appears beyond any question, from the averments of the complaint, that the committee which was appointed by the
Section 42 of the city charter describes the steps which must be taken. First. Before the common council shall determine to lay out, change or discontinue any highway or street, or designate any building line, it must cause a notice, signed by the mayor or clerk of said city, describing in general terms such proposed action, and specifying a time and place when and where all persons whose land is proposed to be taken or affected thereby may appear before them, or a committee by them appointed, and be heard in relation
From the facts stated in the complaint the city authorities were apparently proceeding as directed by their charter when they were stopped by the temporary injunction. The committee, notice of the future meetings of which was served upon the plaintiff, was appointed by the common council to give a hearing to the parties upon the question of whether a new layout of Third street should be made. If the original layout of Third street could easily be determined by an examination of the proper records, an opportunity was thus given the plaintiff, by proving that fact to the committee, to show that the new layout of Third street was unnecessary. That this is not the committee appointed under the charter to make the actual layout, but a committee whose only duty is to hear the parties and to report to the common council upon the question whether the layout or alteration should be made, is readily ascertained from an examination of § 42. The committee to make the layout is not appointed until the parties in interest have been heard, and the common council, after such hearing, has determined to make the layout; and no notice of its meeting is required to be given to the parties in interest; nor is any hearing granted to parties in
Since the common council, in appointing a committee to hear the parties, has taken the proper preliminary step toward making a new layout of Third street, and so long as the municipal authorities in making the new laj'out proceed in the manner required by the charter, it is of no consequence whether the committee appointed to place the bounds on Third street exceeded their authority in procuring a survey and proposed new layout to be made and submitted to the common council.
As the plaintiff is not, for the reasons already stated, entitled to the injunction prayed for, it is unnecessary to decide whether the injury which it is alleged would result to the plaintiff from a change in the lines of the street is such as would warrant the granting of an injunction, if the city authorities were not proceeding according to the requirements of their charter.
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Mary Walsh v. The City of Ansonia
- Status
- Published