AN ACT CONCERNING THE CONVEYANCE OF CERTAIN PARCELS OF STATE LAND.

This bill authorizes conveyances from the departments of Education (DOE), Environmental Protection (DEP), Public Works (DPW), and Transportation (DOT) to specified towns; authorizes property sales, conveyances, and exchanges to private parties; revises (and in one case repeals) prior conveyance provisions; conveys an easement to the Cities of East Lyme and Waterbury; authorizes a 25-year lease on property in Kent; and returns a parcel to a private individual.

The bill also requires DEP to enter an agreement for the exchange of land in Morris and makes minor changes.

Lastly, it requires any grant-in-aid provided by DEP to Quinnipiac Council, Boy Scouts of America for the repair of the dam at Deer Lake in Killingworth to allow for a waiver of repayment if less than 2% of the land on which the dam sits is ever transferred. Under current law, the grant must be repaid if any percentage of the acreage is transferred.

1. eliminates conveyances from DOT to Canaan, Farmington, and Dreamakers, LLC; DEP to Farmington; and Higher Education to New Britain;

2. adds conveyances from DPW to East Lyme; DOT to Middlefield, Wallingford, Goodwin College, and the Route 11 Greenway Commission; and DEP to Somers Sportsmen's Association, F & F Concrete Corporation, and the Morhardts;

3. requires DEP to contract with the Zibellos;

4. revises a 2002 conveyance to East Hartford;

5. expands the permissible use for a right-of-way granted to the state from Newtown to include access to other state land; and

6. makes other minor changes.

The bill requires the following conveyances from the agencies to the towns named for the purpose specified:

1. from DOT to New Britain for economic development purposes (three parcels totaling 0. 373 acres);

2. from DOT to Windsor Locks for municipal purposes (20,000 square feet);

3. from DOT to Norwalk for economic development purposes (0. 02 acre);

4. from DOE to Waterbury for a temporary, then permanent easement for maintaining the storm water culvert containing the Trumpet Brook (less than one acre)

5. from DPW on behalf of the Military Department to East Lyme a sewer line to provide municipal sewer services and an easement to maintain the line;

6. from DPW on behalf of the Military Department to East Lyme for public highway purposes, including the installation of utility lines, poles, pipes, and wires (2. 24 acres);

7. from DOT to Wallingford for municipal purposes (. 2295 acres); and

8. from DOT to Middlefield two parcels for open space (total of 1. 92 acres).

Each new conveyance is subject to the State Properties Review Board's (SPRB) approval and with two exceptions, must be made at a cost equal to the administrative cost of the conveyance. The exception is the conveyance of the sewer line to East Lyme at no cost and the land to Middlefield for $ 1. All of the property reverts to the state if the recipient uses it for any purpose other than that specified in the bill.

The bill requires the following transfers from the agencies to the named recipients for the purpose specified:

1. from DEP to the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association, Inc. a 25-year lease of two parcels in Kent for $ 1 a year to be used for open space and recreational purposes (approximately 15 acres);

2. from DOT to Goodwin College the conveyance of land in East Hartford at a cost equal to administrative costs to be used for transportation and education purposes (. 65 acres);

3. from DEP to the Somers Sportsmen's Association three parcels (21. 8, 19. 7, and 2. 1 acres) in exchange for two parcels (totaling approximately 21. 9 acres) with the use of the 2. 1 acres limited to a driveway allowing a right of ingress and egress;

4. from DEP to F & F Concrete Corporation an easement at no cost for transporting vehicles between 8: 00 am and 5: 00 pm on weekdays;

5. from DOT to Route 11 Greenway Authority Commission at no cost land located in Salem for open space and recreation purposes (8. 5 acres); and

6. from DEP to Jon H. and Lynda Morhardt 4,960 square feet of land in exchange for 5,000 square feet in Vernon.

Each of these transfers is subject to SPRB's approval and, with one exception, reverts to the state if the recipient uses it for any purpose other than that specified in the bill. The exception is for the DEP exchange with the Morhardts.

In addition, the bill requires DEP to enter an agreement with Richard and Heidi Zibello for the exchange of two parcels of land located in Morris; which SPRB must approve.

1. changes, from agricultural to municipal and economic development purposes, the authorized use for a 43-acre parcel of property conveyed by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services to Ledyard in 1996;

2. adds a condition for Newtown's use of 34 acres of the Fairfield Hills property that requires Newtown to grant a limited easement (on that portion of the property that facilitates agricultural use) in favor of the state or its lessee;

3. allows the state to use the 23. 25 acre right-of-way it received from Newtown to access other state land;

4. With respect to an easement on 11. 4 acres conveyed in 2002 from DOT to East Hartford in favor of Pewter Pot Associates, LLC and Donald Lombardo for ingress and egress and utilities, (a) specifies that the easement is conveyed at no cost and (b) removes its width descriptions;

5. removes a condition that property conveyed to Haddam in 1998 be used for tourism purposes and deletes the reverter provision; and

6. repeals a 1999 conveyance of a half-acre of land to Meriden for its use as open space.

The bill authorizes the return of property in Windham that was mistakenly conveyed to the state by a private party. Three parcels (100 acres and two small lots) must be reconveyed to Mary Lou Rood at no cost to the state.

Yea

Nay

(03/24/2006)