Connecticut General Statutes

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 8-4a (2026)

Zoning or planning commission may be designated as planning and zoning commission

✓ current as of May 2026

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Any town, city or borough, unless otherwise provided by special act, may by ordinance or by vote of its legislative body designate its zoning commission or its planning commission as the planning and zoning commission for such municipality, and such commission shall thereupon have all the powers and duties of both a planning commission and a zoning commission and shall supersede any previous planning commission or zoning commission, as the case may be. Such vote shall establish the number of members to comprise such planning and zoning commission, which number of members shall be five, six, seven, eight, nine or ten, not counting nonvoting members. In the establishment of a five-member planning and zoning commission, the provisions of section 8-19 shall apply. In the establishment of a planning and zoning commission with six or more members, the provisions of section 8-19 shall apply except that the terms of office shall be so arranged that not more than three of such terms on a six-member commission, four of such terms on a seven or an eight-member commission, or five of such terms on a nine or ten-member commission shall expire in any one year. Any public hearing conducted by a planning and zoning commission with six or more members shall be held by the commission or a committee thereof appointed for that purpose constituting a majority of the members of the commission. Any combined planning and zoning commission established under the general statutes prior to October 1, 1959, may continue to exist. Upon the establishment of a combined planning and zoning commission, all regulations adopted by the planning commission or the zoning commission which were in effect prior to the establishment of such combined commission shall continue in full force and effect until modified, repealed or superseded in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and chapter 126. A vacancy on such combined planning and zoning commission shall be filled in a manner prescribed by the legislative body of such municipality.

(1959, P.A. 614, S. 6; 679, S. 3; 1971, P.A. 362, S. 1; 763, S. 2; P.A. 75-21, S. 1, 3; P.A. 77-509, S. 10.)

History: 1971 acts added provision continuing regulations of zoning or planning commission in force until modified, repealed or superseded by newly combined commission and extended applicability of section to cities and boroughs; P.A. 75-21 changed maximum numbers of terms to expire in one year from two to three on six-member commission, from three to four on seven or eight-member commission and from four to five on a nine or ten-member commission; P.A. 77-509 added provision concerning filling of vacancies.

See Sec. 8-1b re alternate members of zoning commission or combined planning and zoning commission.

Cited. 154 C. 473; 161 C. 430; 170 C. 62; 186 C. 106. Vote of a salaried municipal officer, although invalid under this statute and Sec. 8-19, did not invalidate commission's entire action in approving a zone reclassification where total valid votes were sufficient. 196 C. 192.

Cited. 2 CA 213; 31 CA 643.

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Notes of Decisions

Cited in 10 cases, 1961–2013 · leading case: Murach v. Plan. & Zoning Comm'n, 491 A.2d 1058 (Conn. 1985).

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Murach v. Plan. & Zoning Comm'n, 491 A.2d 1058 (Conn. 1985). · cites it 10× “The questions presented require us to construe portions of General Statutes § 8-19 1 as applied to General Statutes § 8-4a. 2 The trial court found the following facts.”

Conto v. Zoning Comm'n of Washington, 439 A.2d 441 (Conn. 1982). · cites it 4× “General Statutes § 8-4a ; 3 Vose v. Planning & Zoning Commission, 171 Conn.”

Kelo v. City of New London, 843 A.2d 500 (Conn. 2004). “usable floor space is, or which it is anticipated, within eighteen months, shall be, unused or substantially underutilized; (6) ‘project, area,’ means the area within which the development project is located; (7) ‘commissioner’ means the Commissioner of Economic and Community…”

Dooley v. Town Plan & Zoning Comm'n, 226 A.2d 509 (Conn. 1967). · cites it 2× “” It also recognized at the time “the necessity for regularly reviewing, updating and revising” such a plan “in the changing conditions and unforeseen needs” of the town.”

Thoma v. Plan. & Zoning Comm'n, 626 A.2d 809 (Conn. App. Ct. 1993). · cites it 2× “Alternatively, subdivisions may be regulated by a town’s combined planning and zoning commission if the planning function has been vested in that body pursuant to General Statutes § 8-4a. The commission also filed a brief and argued on this appeal.”

Ferndale Dairy, Inc. v. Zoning Comm'n, 169 A.2d 268 (Conn. 1961). · cites it 2× “General Statutes § 8-4a. Municipal planning is designed to promote, with the greatest efficiency and economy, the co-ordinated development of the municipality and the general welfare and prosperity of its people.”

Trivalent Realty Co. v. Town of Westport, 477 A.2d 140 (Conn. App. Ct. 1984). · cites it 2× “1963, § 8-24, 3 which then provided, in effect, that *215 a municipality shall not make a municipal improvement without first referring the proposal for the improvement to its planning commission for a report; that failure of the commission to report within thirty days…”

Lewis v. Plan. & Zoning Comm'n, 818 A.2d 889 (Conn. App. Ct. 2003). · cites it 2× “As a planning commission its duty is to prepare and adopt a plan of development for the town based on studies of physical, social, economic and governmental conditions and trends, and the plan should be designed to promote the co-ordinated development of the town and the general…”

Connecticut Light & Power Co. v. Costello, 288 A.2d 415 (Conn. 1971). “The town of Mansfield has a combined planning and zoning commission established under § 8-4a of the General Statutes. In compliance with the authority granted it by § 8-2, the Mansfield planning and zoning commission has promulgated zoning regulations, together with the zoning…”

North Haven Holdings Ltd. P'ship v. Plan. & Zoning Comm'n, 77 A.3d 866 (Conn. App. Ct. 2013). · cites it 2× “In municipalities that have chosen to combine their planning and zoning commissions into one body; see General Statutes § 8-4a; that body acts in its planning capacity in reviewing an application filed pursuant to § 8-24.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.