Town of Sherburne v. Carpenter

Gary Carpenter (defendant) owned a business building in the Town of Sherburne (plaintiff). Carpenter’s building was set back 55 feet from the road. The building also had a front porch with a depth of between eight and 10 feet. The town’s zoning ordinance required buildings to be set back 100 feet from the road, but Carpenter’s nonconforming building was a permissible preexisting use. Carpenter submitted a plan to Sherburne to obtain a permit that would allow him to enclose the porch while maintaining the porch’s existing setback. The plan showed that the porch was eight feet deep. Sherburne granted Carpenter the permit. After construction began, a town administrator determined that the enclosed porch would be 10 feet deep and notified Carpenter of a zoning-ordinance violation. Nonetheless, Carpenter completed the enclosure without modification. The town sued Carpenter for an injunction pursuant to state law, which provided a cause of action to correct violations of the zoning ordinance. Carpenter argued that his submitted plan had been wrong and that the enclosed porch was only two inches closer to the road than the unenclosed porch had been. Carpenter also testified that the zoning administrator had indicated that a variance of a few feet would not matter. The trial court found that Carpenter’s porch violated the zoning ordinance but refused to issue an injunction requiring Carpenter to tear down the enclosure. The court did not provide its reasoning. The town appealed.