FLYNN, J.
The plaintiff Queen's Grant Ltd. Partnership
The following facts and procedural history inform our review. Bridgeport adopted a master development plan (plan) pursuant to General Statutes § 8-191. At the time of the plan's adoption, a city block bounded by Crescent Avenue, Bunnell Street, Williston Street and Seaview Avenue was occupied by three separate industrial plants. One company named Magnetek, Inc. (Magnetek), occupied the westerly portion of the block adjoining Seaview Avenue. Another company, Syntex Rubber Corp., was located between the Magnetek parcel and the plaintiff's parcel. The plaintiff's land occupied the easternmost parcel on the block, which was occupied by Rotair Industries, Inc., a manufacturer of helicopter parts, in a plant bordering Bunnell Street on the east.
In March of 2009, the plaintiff signed a contract to purchase land directly across from the land it already owned on Bunnell Street. Although that Bunnell Street parcel is not the Williston Street parcel in dispute, the executory contract of sale for its conveyance is one of the bases on which the plaintiff claims to have standing. The contractual date for the conveyance of title was March 13, 2009. As of the 2012 date of trial, however, title had not passed to the plaintiff nor had the contract been rescinded. Nonetheless, it is as a contract purchaser of this parcel of land on Bunnell Street that the plaintiff claims it is entitled
The Williston Street parcel, which is the former Magnetek parking lot, that Bridgeport seeks to convey to Sampson to locate a waste reduction facility formerly was zoned residential and was occupied as housing. Bridgeport demolished housing on that land to provide employee parking for the Magnetek parcel. Magnetek since has gone out of business, and its former site was reacquired by Bridgeport, which obtained title to the land by foreclosing on its liens for back taxes. After Magnetek was divested of its property, two developers, neither of whom are parties to this action, proposed an industrial facility on the Williston Street parcel, which is the former Magnetek parking lot. This proposed use required a zoning change from residential to light industrial because the land remained zoned residential. Bridgeport Economic Development Corp. and the two developers jointly applied for the zone change, which subsequently was approved. After the zone change was approved, however, the two developers never entered a land disposition agreement with the city.
Approximately three years later, Sampson approached Bridgeport with its proposal to use the Williston Street parcel as a waste reduction facility. In February 2009, Sampson and Bridgeport entered into a land disposition agreement for the purchase and sale of that parcel. Sampson then applied to the Bridgeport Zoning Board of Appeals (board) for a variance to permit an increase in truck traffic from the permitted five trucks per day to twenty-five trucks per day. That variance was granted, and the plaintiff filed an appeal from the board's action to the Superior Court.
In an attempt to prevent the land transfer to Sampson, the plaintiff also brought the present action seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief. The plaintiff's complaint sounds in four counts: (1) declaratory judgment against Sampson on the basis that its contemplated use of the Williston Street parcel is a modification and substantial change of the plan; (2) declaratory judgment against Firetree on the basis that its contemplated use of another lot located on Bunnell Street is a modification and substantial change of the plan; (3) injunctive relief enjoining Bridgeport from conveying the Williston Street parcel to Sampson; and (4) injunctive relief enjoining Bridgeport from conveying that Bunnell Street lot to Firetree. The claims against Firetree were withdrawn on June 15, 2011, and are not on appeal before this court. In its complaint, the plaintiff claimed to be aggrieved under § 8-200.
In a memorandum of decision, the court concluded that the plaintiff did not have standing under § 8-200(a) to pursue its claim in count one for a declaratory judgment because it was not a lessee or purchaser of property subject to the plan. The court further concluded that the plaintiff was not entitled to an injunction claimed in count three because (1) it failed to show that it suffered irreparable harm, and (2) it had an adequate remedy at law in the form of its appeal from the board's decision, which it already was pursuing at the time it brought this action. This appeal followed.
We first consider whether the court erred in concluding that the plaintiff could not seek a declaratory judgment against Sampson because § 8-200(a) does not confer aggrievement on it as a contract purchaser under an executory contract of sale
"Statutory aggrievement exists by legislative fiat, not by judicial analysis of the particular facts of the case. In other words, in cases of statutory aggrievement, particular legislation grants standing to those who claim injury to an interest protected by that legislation." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Andross v. West Hartford, 285 Conn. 309, 322, 939 A.2d 1146 (2008).
Section 8-200(a) provides in relevant part: "A development plan may be modified at any time by the development agency, provided, if modified after the lease or sale of real property in the development project area, the modification must be consented to by the lessees or purchasers of such real property ... affected by the proposed modification. Where the proposed modification will substantially change the development plan as previously approved, the modification must be approved in the same manner as the development plan."
In this case, it is undisputed that the plaintiff never completed the purchase of property in the area covered by the plan subsequent to its adoption. As such, it is not a purchaser under § 8-200(a). Although the plaintiff interprets the term "purchasers" to include all property owners in the area subject to the plan, we agree with the court that these terms must be construed narrowly. Accordingly, "purchasers" means only those parties who actually have purchased specific property in the area subject to the proposed plan modification.
The parallelism in the statutory text demonstrates the flaw in the plaintiff's argument that entities under contract to purchase are purchasers under the statute. Section 8-200(a) refers to plans modified "after the lease or sale of real property in the development project area" and mandates that such modifications must be consented to by "lessees or purchasers" of said property. Logically, "lessees" refers
Next, the plaintiff claims that the court improperly denied its request for a
"The issuance of an injunction and the scope and quantum of injunctive relief rests in the sound discretion of the [court]." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) New Breed Logistics, Inc. v. CT INDY NH TT, LLC, 129 Conn.App. 563, 570-71, 19 A.3d 1275 (2011). As such, we review a trial court's decision of whether to grant an injunction to determine "whether the decision was based on an erroneous statement of law or an abuse of discretion." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Welles v. Lichaj, 136 Conn.App. 347, 354, 46 A.3d 246, cert. denied, 306 Conn. 904, 52 A.3d 730 (2012). "[U]nless the trial court has abused its discretion, or failed to exercise its discretion ... the trial court's decision must stand." (Citation omitted.) Advest, Inc. v. Wachtel, 235 Conn. 559, 563, 668 A.2d 367 (1995). Furthermore, to the extent that the trial court's factual findings are challenged on appeal, those findings are entitled to great deference and may be reversed by this court only if they are clearly erroneous. Bender v. Bender, 292 Conn. 696, 728, 975 A.2d 636 (2009). "A finding of fact is clearly erroneous when there is no evidence in the record to support it ... or when although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id.
"A party seeking injunctive relief has the burden of alleging and proving irreparable harm and lack of an adequate remedy at law." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Welles v. Lichaj, supra, 136 Conn.App. at 354, 46 A.3d 246; see also Advest, Inc. v. Wachtel, supra, 235 Conn. at 562-63, 668 A.2d 367. "These elements are so crucial that a party's failure to allege and prove them is [a] sufficient ground for sustaining the refusal to grant an injunction...." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Scinto v. Sosin, 51 Conn.App. 222, 245, 721 A.2d 552 (1998), cert. denied, 247 Conn. 963, 724 A.2d 1125 (1999). In considering the irreparable harm element, we are guided by the principle that "[a]lthough ... absolute certainty is not required, it must appear that there is a substantial probability that but for the issuance of the injunction, the party seeking it will suffer irreparable harm." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Silitschanu v. Groesbeck, 12 Conn.App. 57, 65, 529 A.2d 732 (1987), aff'd, 208 Conn. 312, 543 A.2d 737 (1988).
The plaintiff claims that it will be irreparably harmed by increased truck traffic, decreased property value, negative impressions and blight if the Williston Street parcel is conveyed to Sampson and, as a result, the Magnetek property remains vacant.
The court concluded that the plaintiff failed to meet its burden of proving that it would suffer irreparable harm absent the
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
Additionally, the plaintiff's supplemental brief raises the argument that it has standing to invoke § 8-200(a) because, as pleaded in paragraph two of its complaint, "its principal place of business [is] located at 964 Crescent Avenue, in the City of Bridgeport." However, § 8-200(a) refers to "lessees or purchasers" of property, and provides that if the development plan is "modified after the lease or sale of real property in the development project area," the consent of such persons or entities must be obtained. (Emphasis added.) The inclusion of the word "after" in this statute suggests to us that the legislature did not intend to confer aggrievement upon entities that owned property in a development area prior to the plan's adoption. "Because [e]very word and phrase [of a statute] is presumed to have meaning ... [a statute] must be construed, if possible, such that no clause, sentence or word shall be superfluous, void or insignificant." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Lopa v. Brinker International Inc., 296 Conn. 426, 433, 994 A.2d 1265 (2010). The trial court concluded that "[n]one of [the] properties owned by [the plaintiff] were purchased after the ... plan was developed." Thus, to permit the plaintiff to state a claim for declaratory relief based upon the close proximity of its principal place of business to the former Magnetek parking lot would defeat the object of the statute.