Fryeburg Trust v. Town of Fryeburg

Summary

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court reviewed challenges to Fryeburg Planning Board approvals allowing Fryeburg Academy to use two parcels for an outdoor classroom and administrative offices. The court held that both uses qualified as a secondary school under the Fryeburg Land Use Ordinance and that the administrative-office use was integral to the school’s educational functions. It affirmed the judgment regarding the Land Lot, vacated the judgment regarding the House Lot, and remanded with instructions to affirm the Planning Board’s decision.

Holdings

1. The Land Lot qualified as a secondary-school use because courses, including physical education and science, would be taught there; the ordinance did not require every state-required course, or the entirety of those courses, to be taught on each parcel or in each building where the school operated.
2. The House Lot's proposed use for the Academy's admissions and advancement offices and related storage qualified as a secondary-school use because administrative offices are integral to the functioning of a school.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the Academy's proposed use of the Land Lot for outdoor instruction in subjects including science and physical education qualified as a permitted secondary-school use under the Fryeburg Land Use Ordinance.
2. Whether the Academy's proposed use of the House Lot for admissions and advancement offices and related storage qualified as a secondary-school use under the Fryeburg Land Use Ordinance.
3. What standard of review applies to the Planning Board's interpretation and factual characterization of proposed uses under the ordinance.

Disposition

vacated