Office of Legislative Research

Connecticut General Assembly

By

Kevin McCarthy,

Principal Analyst

2006-R-0326

May 26, 2006

This report provides highlights of new laws (public acts) affecting land use enacted during the 2006 regular legislative sessions. In each summary we indicate the public act (PA) number or, if that is not yet available, the act number.

Not all provisions of the acts are included here. Complete summaries of all 2006 public acts passed will be available in the fall when OLR's Public Act Summary book is published; some are already on OLR's webpage: http: //www. cga. ct. gov/olr/.

Readers are encouraged to obtain the full text of acts that interest them from the Connecticut State Library, the House Clerk's Office, or the General Assembly's website: http: //www. cga. ct. gov/.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The law allows municipalities and other parties to seek interim changes in the State Plan of Conservation and Development (Plan of C&D). PA 06-24 modifies how the OPM secretary can make these changes.

Under prior law, municipal planning commissions had to notify OPM of any inconsistency between their local plans of conservation and development and the state plan of C&D. The act instead requires the commissions to (1) send a copy of their plans to OPM within 60 days of their adoption and (2) include a description of any inconsistencies with the state Plan of C&D.

(Effective October 1, 2006)

PA 06-80 changes the requirements under which planning and zoning commissions must notify the public and affected property owners about proposed changes to land use regulations. Among other things, it requires these commissions to establish a registry for directly notifying residents and nonprofit organizations about changes a commission proposes to land use regulations and plans.

(Effective October 1, 2006)

PA 06-17 alters the process planning commissions (or combined planning and zoning commissions) must follow when amending municipal plans of conservation and development when they or individuals propose changes or revisions.

(Effective October 1, 2006)

PA 06-20 allows all zoning commissions operating under special acts or charters to require site plans and standardizes the requirements for reviewing and approving them.

(Effective upon passage)

PA 06-53 extends the requirement for notifying a water company about land use applications affecting their watersheds or aquifer protection areas to subdivision applications and maps.

By law, an applicant for a regulated activity on an inland wetland or watercourse must notify the water company of the application if it affects the company's watershed and the company has filed a map with the municipality. The act extends the notice requirement to include the health commissioner.

(Effective October 1, 2006)

sHB 5447 prohibits people from encroaching or causing anyone to encroach on open space land, or any land in which a municipality (among other parties) holds a conservation easement interest without the owner's permission or other legal authorization. It authorizes anyone with a property interest in such open space land, or the attorney general, to bring an action against the violator in Superior Court for the judicial district where the land is located. It specifies the orders, awards, fines, costs, and fees the court may impose on people who encroach on open space land and imposes the same ones as apply to people who illegally remove or harm a shrub or ornamental or shade tree within the limits of a public way or public grounds without the appropriate legal permission.

(Effective October 1, 2006)

PA 06-97 authorizes a municipality's legislative body to adopt an ordinance exempting the first subdivision of land from its subdivision regulations if municipality or a nonprofit organization will develop the lot for affordable housing.

(Effective October 1, 2006)

PA 06-128 sets conditions under which municipalities, including boroughs and special taxing districts, may abate property taxes on open space land. This abatement is separate from the property tax benefit available to open space land owners under the 490 program.

(Effective October 1, 2006 and applicable to assessment years beginning on or after that date)

In municipalities with populations of less than 20,000, sHB 5664 requires that applicants for a motor vehicle dealer or repairer license obtain police approval of the location where they want to operate the business. An applicant must obtain this approval from the municipality's police chief if there is an organized police force or, if there is no organized police force, the commander of the state police barracks closest to the proposed location. The act also modifies how the Department of Transportation can dispose of certain nonconforming parcels of land it has acquired.

(Effective upon passage)