The court affirmed a decision of the Carroll County Superior Court which had affirmed the decision of the Conway Planning Board approving a developer's concurrent applications for site plan approval and subdivision of a parcel of land in North Conway. The plaintiff is an abutter to the developer, Druker Company, Ltd.

The case presented numerous issues of first impression, although the most significant issue, the time to appeal from a grant of conditional approval, did not reach the Supreme Court. The developer had moved to dismiss the appeal of the planning board action, arguing that the appeal should have been filed thirty days from the grant of conditional approval, but the superior court denied the motion on the basis of several precedents predating the amendment to N.H. R.S.A. 676:4 enabling planning boards to grant conditional approvals. That issue never reached the Supreme Court because the developer prevailed on the merits, therefore precluding any meaningful review of the issue.

In its decision the Supreme Court rejected the abutter's claim of de novo review of the superior court's decision, clarifying the scope of review as limited even where the superior court rejects additional evidence and decides the case on the administrative, written, record:

In land use cases, we have not reviewed the determination of the superior court de novo regardless of whether the appellate record consists only of the certified record of the local planning board or ZBA. See Ray's Stateline Market v. Town of Pelham, 140 N.H. 139, 142-43, 665 A.2d 1068, 1070-71 (1995) (applying deferential standard where trial court accepted facts as presented to the ZBA); Rowe v. Town of North Hampton, 131 N.H. 424, 428, 553 A.2d 1331, 1334 (1989) (deference paid to superior court where it admitted additional evidence); Narbonne, 130 N.H. at 72-73, 534 A.2d at 389 (plaintiffs offered only record of administrative hearings at the superior court). The cases cited by the plaintiff as dictating a de novo standard of review do not involve appeals from zoning decisions, see McGovern v. Secretary of State, 138 N.H. 128, 129, 635 A.2d 498, 499 (1993) (broadening standard of review when deciding constitutional question on stipulated record); Masse v. Commercial Union Ins. Co., 136 N.H. 628, 632, 620 A.2d 1041, 1044 (1993) (refusing to grant usual deference to superior court in insurance policy coverage dispute), and are not governed by either the statutory framework at issue here or prior relevant case law. "The standard of review for this court is not whether we would find as the trial court did but whether the evidence reasonably supports the finding." Durant v. Town of Dunbarton, 121 N.H. 352, 357, 430 A.2d 140, 144 (1981); see, e.g., Grey Rocks Land Trust v. Town of Hebron, 136 N.H. 239, 248-49, 614 A.2d 1048, 1053 (1992) (Horton, J. dissenting) (noting that "[o]ur role on review is also limited, requiring deference to the trial court's findings" even where the evidence was "essentially limited to the record before the zoning board of adjustment").

Therefore, when reviewing the superior court's disposition of both appeals, "we will uphold the trial court unless its decision is not supported by the evidence or is legally erroneous." Nadeau v. Town of New Durham, 129 N.H. 663, 666, 531 A.2d 335, 337 (1987) (upholding trial court's reversal of both planning board and ZBA); see Ray's Stateline Market, 140 N.H. at 143, 665 A.2d at 1070-71 (superior court review of ZBA appeal); Deer Leap Assocs., 136 N.H. at 557, 618 A.2d at 838 (superior court review of planning board under 677:15). "We look to whether a reasonable person could have reached the same decision as the trial court based on the evidence before it." Nadeau, 129 N.H. at 666, 531 A.2d at 337 (quotation omitted).

The Supreme Court went on to rule that planning board review, and the superior court's review of the planning board action on appeal, does not include review of the other board approvals required for the development. The abutter had argued that the planning board could not legally approve a plan based upon an "illegal" zoning board special exception. The Supreme Court rejected this argument, ruling that any attack on the special exceptions had to proceed through that board, and not collaterally through the planning board.

The final point of note was the Supreme Court's rejection of the plaintiff's claim of entitlement to present extrinsic evidence. Based on the court's traditional construction of the legislature's choice of the word "may" as permissive, the Supreme Court affirmed the superior court's rejection of additional evidence on an abuse-of-discretion standard.

This provision entitles the court, at its discretion, "to consider additional evidence when it shall appear necessary." Price, 120 N.H. at 486, 417 A.2d at 1001 (quotation and ellipses omitted) (decided under prior law). The legislature's use of the phrase "may take evidence" plainly indicates that the plaintiff is not entitled to a full evidentiary hearing, cf. Cheever v. Southern N.H. Regional Med. Ctr., 141 N.H. 589, 591, 688 A.2d 565, 566-67 (1997) (this court looks first to the plain meaning of a statute); rather, it is the court's prerogative to determine whether admission of further evidence would "advance justice or judicial economy," Price, 120 N.H. at 486, 417 A.2d at 1001. In this case, the superior court had before it an extensive certified record, and had the benefit of exhaustive pleadings and arguments of counsel. See id. The trial court is in the best position to determine the sufficiency of the record before it, and based on the record in this case, we cannot conclude that the superior court abused its discretion. Cf. Peter Christian's, 132 N.H. at 683, 569 A.2d at 763.