The Appellate Court granted certification to appeal pursuant to General Statutes § 8-8 (o), which provides: “There shall be no right to further review [of the judgment of the trial court in a zoning appeal taken pursuant to § 8-8] except to the appellate court by certification for review, on the vote of two judges of the appellate court so to certify and under such other rules as the judges of the appellate court establish. The procedure on appeal to the appellate court shall, except as otherwise provided herein, be in accordance with the procedures provided by rule or law for the appeal of judgments rendered by the superior court unless modified by rule of the judges of the appellate court.”

Following the grant of certification, the plaintiff appealed from the judgment of the trial court to the Appellate Court, and we transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to Practice Book § 4023 and General Statutes § 51-199 (c).

Also named as a defendant was the town of Thomaston.

The only claim of the plaintiff not specifically referred to in the trial court’s memorandum of decision is that the testimony of the owner of the property when the zoning ordinances became effective, James Fairchild, was insufficient to establish that the property was not being used for commercial purposes on that date. The plaintiff argues that Fairchild’s testimony was limited to a particular portion of the property, parcel B, that was not identified as a separate parcel until after the effective date of the zoning ordinances. We read the record differently. We are satisfied that Fairchild’s testimony amply supports the conclusion that, as of the effective date of the zoning ordinances, the entire property was not being used for commercial purposes and had not been so used for approximately two years. Furthermore, as the trial court aptly noted, it was the plaintiff’s burden to establish a nonconforming use on the effective date, and the board was not required to credit the plaintiff's evidence in that respect.