The NH Office of Energy and Planning publication, The Board of Adjustment in New Hampshire, January 2006, gives detailed instruction on appeals to the NH Courts of ZBA decisions. Some of this information in printed below. A complete copy of this manual (104 pages ) is available from the NH Office of Energy and Planning at www.nh.gov/ope/resourcelibrary/HandbooksAndOtherPublication. htm
RSA 677:4 states that any person aggrieved by any order or decision of the Board of Adjustment (ZBA) or any decision of the local legislative body may apply, by petition to the superior court within 30 days after the date upon which the Board voted to deny the motion for rehearing.
If a decision is appealed to Superior Court, that does not prevent the applicant from utilizing the approval unless the person appealing obtains an order from the court restraining or preventing the applicant from using the approval. (RSA 677:9)
An applicant who proceeds to use the approval when an appeal has been filed is doing so at his own risk, because the appeal may ultimately be granted and the decision reversed, requiring the applicant to undo anything done under the approval.
In reviewing a case, the court in general will consider only errors of law and not matters of judgment. The court is expert in law, not in zoning or local conditions. Rather than substitute its judgment for that of the Board of Adjustment, the court will assume that the Board has more complete knowledge of the situation. Only if the Board has not satisfied legal requirements, or is shown to have acted arbitrarily or in obvious disregard of the evidence will the court set aside the Board's decision. (RSA 677:10)
The Superior Court will not reopen the question of facts pertaining to the case unless the records of the Board are too meager to show the basis for the decision. The necessity for the Board to maintain complete records and to make its decision on the basis of recorded evidence is clear.
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