You asked for an update of OLR Report 2005-R-0792 regarding how the term “deteriorating” is used in the redevelopment statutes.

The statutes authorize creation of “redevelopment areas. ” The designation allows towns to prepare and implement plans for acquiring and improving land so that it can be developed. Property within such an area can be taken by eminent domain. Towns can designate an area for redevelopment if it is deteriorated, deteriorating, substandard, or detrimental to the community's safety, health, morals, or welfare (chapter 130).

OLR Report 2005-R-0792 discusses the legislative history of the word “deteriorating,” which was added to this statute in 1959.

In 2007, the legislature added criteria for towns to use to determine if an area is “deteriorated” or “deteriorating” (PA 07-207). An area meets these standards if at least 20% of buildings there contain at least one of the following deficiencies:

1. defects that need to be cleared;

2. conditions resulting from a defect that normal maintenance cannot correct;

3. extensive minor defects that collectively harm the surrounding area;

4. property that was inadequately constructed or altered;

5. inadequate or unsafe plumbing, heating, or electrical facilities;

6. overcrowded or improperly sited structures;

7. too many dwelling units close together;

8. properties converted into incompatible uses, such as homes converted into rooming houses;

9. underused or improperly maintained obsolete buildings that depress an area's physical appearance;

10. detrimental land uses or conditions, structures used for different purposes, or the adverse effects of noise, smoke, or fumes;

11. unsafe, congested, poorly designed, or deficient streets;

12. inadequate public utilities or community facilities that diminish living conditions or hinder economic growth; and

13. other equally significant building or environmental deficiencies.

PA 07-207, PA 07-141, and PA 07-5, June Special Session, make a number of other changes to planning and procedures under the redevelopment statutes and other statutes that involve the power to take property by eminent domain.

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