Maine Supreme Court Looks Past City Planner's 'Unprofessional' Plea To Zoning Board Of Appeals

This March, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court considered a claim that an "unprofessional" email from a city planner to the city's zoning board of appeals, pleading for a specific outcome on a land use appeal, does not per se violate constitutional due process rights.

The case is Fitanides v. City of Saco, Maine, 2015 ME 32 (March 17, 2015).

The lawsuit involved the entitlement of a disc-golf course in the City of Saco, Maine, and a neighbor's efforts to prevent the entitlement.

Essentially, the City granted conditional use permits for the construction of the disc-golf course, which abutted a neighboring campground. The owner of the campground appealed the permits to the City's zoning board of appeals.

Prior to the zoning board of appeals consideration of the appeal, the city planner for the City of Saco sent an email to the zoning board of appeals stating that: "[The appellant] has demonstrated numerous times in the past that litigation is little more than a hobby of his". The city planner then urged the zoning board of appeals not to "compound the injury inflicted on the applicant by [the appellant] by dragging this unfounded appeal on any longer."

First, the Supreme Court made known its feelings about such behavior: "Such comments from a municipal official have no place in municipal proceedings because they create a public perception of bias and may raise questions about a municipality's willingness to...