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04/11/2018 08:30 AMWhen it comes to hearing about hardships, perhaps no North Branford town-appointed official has heard more of them than Steve Kenning.
For a remarkable 23 consecutive years—including 17 (and counting) as chairman—Steve has served as a volunteer appointed by numerous town councils to North Branford’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA).
On March 22 during a recognition event at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville, Steve was honored by the Connecticut Federation of Planning and Zoning Agencies (CFPZA) for his 23 years of service on the ZBA. Steve was nominated for the longevity recognition by North Branford’s Zoning Enforcement Officer (ZEO) Tom Hogarty.
CFPZA was established in 1949 by the Connecticut General Assembly to encourage municipalities to embrace the developing concept of smart planning and zoning, according to information shared by Hogarty.
A North Branford resident of nearly 40 years, Steve’s a professional engineer who has continued to fulfill his ZBA duties in tandem with a full-time career with Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.
Steve’s first appointment to the ZBA was in August 1994. While he’s certainly gained an understanding of information and board experience through the years, Steve still insists he’s just a regular guy helping out to the best of his ability.
“I don’t have necessarily have any qualifications, other than maybe just good common sense,” Steve says. “The town staff, including the ZEO, is there at every meeting. We need that wealth of knowledge, because we don’t do this for a living. We know the regulations, and read them, and maybe go to workshops once and a while, but it’s not our main job.”
As chairman of the ZBA, Steve leads a board of five members and three alternate members. Functioning under state statutes and local zoning regulations, the ZBA hears appeals from decisions of the ZEO and holds hearings and decides on applications for variances to zoning regulations.
“North Branford zoning regulations didn’t come into effect until 1962,” notes Steve. “Before then, you could put a farm next to a gas station next to an old folks’ home next to a gift shop. The town realized certain industries needed to be separated and came up with zoning regulations.”
Having zoning regulations meant the town also needed a ZBA to address issues and applications with requests that fall outside of the regs.
“If someone wants to put something on their property that’s not allowed by zoning regulations, like an addition or some change to the property or its usage, they could make an appeal,” explains Steve. “By state statute, the biggest reason to appeal is because they can show a hardship.”
In some cases, Steve says, “It’s kind of like kids asking to do stuff they know they’re not supposed to do. The board has to find a hardship, and people have to present a hardship, and some of them can be pretty flimsy.”
It’s a tricky proposition, because what a person may consider a hardship, such as owner error or loss of potential for financial gain, may not qualify as a hardship by state statutes, which typically address hardships created by physical characteristics of the land. Another aspect the ZBA considers is if the request is in keeping with the character of a neighborhood, says Steve.
“There’s some hard ones. Some people go away pretty dejected,” says Steve of ZBA decisions. “And some of them are open and shut; it’s obvious they’re not going to pass.”
For those who come seeking a decision, Steve’s advice is to do your homework, starting with a preliminary visit to the town’s Zoning Department and seeking a recommendation from town staff, such as Hogarty, Town Engineer Kurt Weiss, or Town Planner Carey Duques.
“They won’t dissuade you, but they may give their best judgment. They are very professional and will help anyone who comes in from the city who wants to do something,” says Steve.
When it comes to hearing applications, the ZBA takes each on its own merits, and every approval requires a super majority vote.
“You have to get four positive votes for that appeal to pass,” says Steve. “When we hear it, we have five on the board that listen to it. If you get three [positive votes] out of five, it won’t pass.”
So, what’s coming before the ZBA these days?
“One thing that we’ve seen more of is people wanting to add on to their home to have an elderly parent live with them. We see at least two or three a year,” says Steve. “Many of those we’ve passed due to a hardship.”
In some of those cases, guided by state statutes, exceeding lot coverage or other non-regulatory aspects of the application may be granted to add a bedroom and/or bathroom to alleviate the hardship of an undue financial burden caused by having to instead place an elderly relative in a nursing home.
Being a member of the ZBA for more than 20 years, Steve’s seen some other trends in applications. Cellphone towers were quite a hot button issue for the ZBA not too many years ago, he recalls.
“Cellphone tower meetings used be a big thing with the ZBA, but now, with the state Siting Council [jurisdiction], unfortunately towns don’t have as much say,” says Steve. “Even though those meetings were rambunctious and kind of loud, now we don’t have much say in it.”
A resident of North Branford who cares about his town, Steve and his wife, Patricia, raised their three children here. Steve served as a local sports coach and says North Branford’s school system gave the Kenning kids a great start in life.
“My three kids went through the North Branford school system from kindergarten through high school, and received a good education that gave them a good start to graduate from college and get jobs in their field of study: a teacher at an American Indian College in Montana, a special education teacher in Cheshire, and a medical doctor in Richmond, Virginia,” says Steve.
Steve is a graduate of Western Michigan University with a B.S. in aviation engineering technology. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from Wayne State University.
While raising a family here, Steve coached for more than 20 seasons with North Branford recreation leagues (soccer, basketball, baseball, and softball).
By order of priority, “my coaching philosophy was to have fun, learn to play as a team, and, while we’re at it, let’s win some games,” says Steve. “We did have many winning seasons, but, more importantly, I think for the most part the kids had fun playing on the teams.”
When he’s not busy running program/customer support to keep aircraft flying for Sikorsky clients including the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, and naval customers in Taiwan and Australia, Steve gets out on his motorcycle.
“I’ve had motorcycles ever since I was in high school,” says Steve. “We’d go for motorcycle camping trips. I went out west after college and rode out to the west coast. I wound up in Washington State and wound up getting job out there with Boeing—they happened to be hiring!”
Steve’s not the only one in the family with a sense of adventure—after college, he and his wife also backpacked around Europe for three months.
Looking back on a quick 23 years of service to the town on the ZBA, Steve says he’s happy to continue the work, should he continue to be appointed to the role.
“I’ve been appointed and re-upped every three years, and I’m still enjoying it,” says Steve. “So it might be quite a few more years—but I don’t know if it will be another 23 years!”