The case, however, involves a matter of great public interest and we will consider the claims made in the plaintiff's brief in this court. State Water Commission v. Norwich, 141 Conn. 442, 444, 107 A.2d 270. The committee's finding concerning the proceedings in this matter may be stated in summary as follows: During 1956, the plaintiff, a municipal corporation, was discharging daily into the Naugatuck and Housatonic Rivers, through its sewage system, a million gallons of untreated sewage.
Id., 406. As a final illustration of the concept of impracticability, in State Water Commission v. Norwich, 141 Conn. 442, 107 A.2d 270 (1954), the question before us was whether a statute that empowered the water commission to enforce any of its orders issued to a municipality by bringing an action in the Superior Court, and also authorized the court subsequently to issue an "`appropriate decree or process'"; id., 443; included a grant of authority to the court, not only to enforce such orders, but also to modify an order to permit enforcement where the date of compliance already had passed. Id., 444.
"We have frequently held that when a party has a statutory right of appeal from the decision of an administrative officer or agency, he may not, instead of appealing, bring an independent action to test the very issue which the appeal was designed to test. McNish v. American Brass Co., 139 Conn. 44, 53, 89 A.2d 566; State Water Commissioner v. Norwich, 141 Conn. 442, 447, 107 A.2d 270." Country Lands, Inc. v. Swinnerton, 151 Conn. 27, 33, 193 A.2d 483 (1963); Blum v. Lisbon Leasing Corporation, 173 Conn. 175, 179, 377 A.2d 280 (1977).
To allow a party seeking a declaratory judgment to bypass the entire process . . . would be to interject an unnecessary and potentially confusing element into an otherwise well-defined area of the law." Id., 358-59; see also Country Lands, Inc. v. Swinnerton, 151 Conn. 27, 33, 193 A.2d 483 (1963); State Water Commission v. Norwich, 141 Conn. 442, 447, 107 A.2d 270 (1954); McNish v. American Brass Co., 139 Conn. 44, 53, 89 A.2d 566 (1952). As in the Connecticut Life case, some stronger justification than that urged by the present plaintiffs is required for us to create an exception to submitting to the administrative process.
We have frequently stated that when a party has a statutory right of appeal from the decision of an administrative agency, he may not, instead of appealing, bring an independent action to test the very issue which the appeal was designed to test. Country Lands, Inc. v. Swinnerton, 151 Conn. 27, 33, 193 A.2d 483 (1963); State Water Commission v. Norwich, 141 Conn. 442, 447, 107 A.2d 270 (1954); McNish v. American Brass Co., 139 Conn. 44, 53, 89 A.2d 566 (1952), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 913, 73 S.Ct. 336, 97 L.Ed. 704 (1953); cf. Connecticut Light Health Ins. Guaranty Assn. v. Jackson, 173 Conn. 352, 357, 377 A.2d 1099 (1977); Boucher Agency, Inc. v. Zimmer, 160 Conn. 404, 410, 279 A.2d 540 (1971). The only relevant exception to this rule is where the administrative action is void. Smith v. F. W. Woolworth Co., 142 Conn. 88, 93, 111 A.2d 552 (1955).
We conclude that CLHIGA has an administrative remedy. CLHIGA contends that even if an administrative remedy is available to it under the UAPA, the remedy is not exclusive. This court, however, has repeatedly affirmed the principle that when an adequate administrative remedy is provided by law, it should be exhausted. Country Lands, Inc. v. Swinnerton, 151 Conn. 27, 33, 193 A.2d 483; State Water Commission v. Norwich, 141 Conn. 442, 447, 107 A.2d 270; McNish v. American Brass Co., 139 Conn. 44, 53, 89 A.2d 566. The UAPA provides a completely adequate method of resolving the questions presented by this case. The real issue in this case, therefore, becomes whether the method provided in the UAPA is exclusive and assumes precedence over any other form of relief. Though the UAPA contains no provisions for exclusivity, the legislature did indicate its intention that the agencies and the Court of Common Pleas be the principal forums for deciding such questions, by stating that the UAPA applies to all agencies and agency proceedings not specifically exempted ( 4-185); by expressly charging the Court of Common Pleas with responsibility for reviewing administrative actions and rendering declaratory judgments after the agency has passed on the validity or applicability of a regulation or order or has declined to do so ( 4-183 [b], 4-175); by granting the Court of Common Pleas the power to stay agency orders ( 4-183 [c]); and by repealing a
The defendants cite the many decisions of this court wherein we have held that "when a party has a statutory right of appeal from the decision of an administrative officer or agency, he may not, instead of appealing, bring an independent action to test the very issue which the appeal was designed to test." Country Lands, Inc. v. Swinnerton, 151 Conn. 27, 33, 193 A.2d 483; State Water Commission v. Norwich, 141 Conn. 442, 447, 107 A.2d 270; McNish v. American Brass Co., 139 Conn. 44, 53, 89 A.2d 566. "This power [to review] is vested in a zoning board of appeals, both to provide aggrieved persons with full and adequate administrative relief and to give the reviewing court the benefit of the local board's judgment." Country Lands, Inc. v. Swinnerton, supra, 33, 34; see 2 Rathkopf, Zoning and Planning (3d Ed.) p. 37-6, 1.
See Chicago v. O'Connell, 278 Ill. 591, 608, 116 N.E. 210; 42 Am.Jur. 671, 580, 573." State Water Commission v. Norwich, 141 Conn. 442, 447, 107 A.2d 270; cf. Vaill v. Sewer Commission, 168 Conn. 514, 518-19, 362 A.2d 885. The second issue presented is whether the trial court erred in concluding that an injunction is mandated under 25-54n of the General Statutes.
"We have frequently held that when a party has a statutory right of appeal from the decision of an administrative officer or agency, he may not, instead of appealing, bring an independent action to test the very issue which the appeal was designed to test. McNish v. American Brass Co., 139 Conn. 44, 53, 89 A.2d 566; State Water Commission v. Norwich, 141 Conn. 442, 447, 107 A.2d 270. The essential purpose of a zoning board of appeals, so far as its power to grant variances under 8-6 (3) of the General Statutes is concerned, is to furnish some elasticity in the application of regulatory measures so that they do not operate in an arbitrary, unreasonable or confiscatory manner, or in any manner which would be unconstitutional. Florentine v. Darien, 142 Conn. 415, 425, 115 A.2d 328, and authorities cited.
"We have frequently held that when a party has a statutory right of appeal from the decision of an administrative officer or agency, he may not, instead of appealing, bring an independent action to test the very issue which the appeal was designed to test. McNish v. American Brass Co., 139 Conn. 44, 53, 89 A.2d 566; State Water Commission v. Norwich, 141 Conn. 442, 447, 107 A.2d 270." Country Lands, Inc. v. Swinnerton, 151 Conn. 27, 33, 193 A.2d 483; Florentine v. Darien, 142 Conn. 415, 431, 115 A.2d 328; 2 Rathkopf, Law of Zoning and Planning (3d Ed.), p. 35-10; 2 Yokley, Zoning Law and Practice (3d Ed.) 18-11, p. 399; 8A McQuillin, Municipal Corporations (3d Ed. Rev.) 25.283, p. 298.