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

2. amends prior conveyances in Greenwich, Griswold, Middletown, New Britain, New Haven, Norwalk, and Windham;

3. requires (a) the Department of Transportation (DOT) to convey an easement to Danbury; (b) the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to lease property to Ridgefield and (c) the Department of Public Works (DPW) to acquire title from Torrington for a portion of Clark Street, grant an easement to Norwich at Three Rivers Community College, and transfer an easement in Enfield;

4. allows DEP to lease or authorize occupancy to preserve the Penfield Lighthouse; and

5. exempts the sale of a particular parcel of electric company real property in Rocky Hill from the law that requires the company to use sale proceeds to reduce its stranded costs.

The bill authorizes the exchange of property between DOT (a 3. 375 acre parcel) and the town of Westbrook (2. 087 acres). The transaction is subject to State Properties Review Board (SPRB) approval and the town must pay the administrative costs while DOT is required to pay for any survey. It requires another exchange of parcels between DEP (17. 4 acres) and the Goodspeed Opera House Foundation, Inc. (a portion of a 2. 7 acre parcel) and Riverhouse Properties, LLC (87. 7 acres). The exchange must follow a public hearing on the matter and is subject to SPRB approval.

The bill replaces a process for disposing of property taken for the expansion of Route 6 with one that requires its sale to former property owners (or their heirs). It gives DEP exclusive custody and control of all publicly-owned Connecticut River islands north of East Windsor across to South Windsor and south of King's Island.

Finally, the bill reinstates changes made by Section 3 of sHB 6649, as amended by House “A,” that eliminated provisions in current law on the sale or use of property acquired for the Route 7 Expressway Project. This bill thus restores provisions that prohibit the DOT commissioner from selling, or using in any manner that is incompatible with transportation purposes, any existing right-of-way acquired for potential use as the Route 7 expressway from Danbury to Norwalk. Under current law restored by this bill, the commissioner may sell or use for any purpose any property currently under his control in Danbury adjacent to Route 7 and south of Wooster Heights Road.

*Amendment LCO 9357: (1) removes from the original file (a) the conveyance of two of the Middletown parcels from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and modifies an adjustment in the price for demolition costs, (b) a grant of conservation easements at the Connecticut Valley Hospital to DEP, (c) three different conveyances in Andover to individuals, and (d) a Department of Correction conveyance to East Lyme and a DEP conveyance to Ansonia; (2) requires proceeds of any sale or lease of the South Windsor property to go to the General Fund; (3) changes the conveyance of DEP property in Ridgefield to a lease arrangement and changes the permitted use for the DCF conveyance from redevelopment to open space; (4) reduces the size of the parcel conveyed in East Lyme in the original file, adds a property description, and changes, from the Connecticut National Guard to the Military Department, the name of the conveying agency; (5) adds (a) a Military Department conveyance to Putnam, (b) the DEP sale to Bridgeport, an exchange of parcels between (i) DOT and Westbrook and (ii) DEP and the Goodspeed Opera House Foundation, Inc. and Riverhouse Properties, LLC. , (c) the provision on custody and control of islands in a portion of the Connecticut River, and (d) a conveyance correction in Windham; (6) amends the repurchase provisions for Route 6 property; (7) adds the lighthouse and the utility company property provisions and the transfers and easements in Torrington, Norwich, and Enfield and the Trumbull conveyance; (8) removes a repealer in the original file that deleted a 2008 DOT conveyance of 6. 8 acres in Norwalk to the Building and Land Technology, Inc. ; and adds the repealer dealing with the Route 7 expressway property; (9) adds the possible Department of Education (DOE) lease in Stamford; and (10) makes a technical correction with regard to a 2008 Norwalk conveyance.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Upon passage except the section dealing with the Route 7 Expressway Project is effective July 1, 2009.

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

1. the Military Department to East Lyme for municipal purposes (0. 9 acres);

2. DOT to South Windsor for economic development purposes, provided that proceeds of any sale or lease of the parcel must be deposited in the state's General Fund (4. 84 acres);

3. the Military Department to Putnam for recreational or municipal purposes (3. 56 acres);

4. DOT to Trumbull for fair market value plus administrative costs for economic development purposes (0. 32 acres); and

5. DEP to Bridgeport two parcels (33 acres located in Trumbull) for $ 2. 8 million plus administrative costs for educational and municipal purposes.

Bridgeport must begin construction of a regional magnet high school within 10 years or maintain the property as a public park as provided in current Trumbull land records or the property reverts to the state. The DEP commissioner must use the sale proceeds to purchase property in Bridgeport and may consider a previously identified 10-acre site.

Within 120 days of the bill's passage, the bill requires DEP to lease for $ 1 per year and a term of 10 years 2. 146 acres to Ridgefield for recreational purposes. DEP must give the town at least two years' notice before changing the terms of the lease.

The bill also requires the DOE to lease land (18. 6 acres) and improvements at the J. M. Wright Technical High School to Stamford, if the department discontinues the vocational education programs there. The lease must be for 20 years and $ 1 per year. DOE must give five years' notice to change lease terms, and Stamford must use the property for municipal purposes.

Each of the new conveyances and the lease agreements are subject to the SPRB's approval within 30 days and must be made at a cost equal to the administrative cost of the conveyance, unless otherwise noted. The property reverts to the state and the Ridgefield and Stamford leases terminate if the recipient uses the parcel for any purpose other than that specified in the bill. The Trumbull conveyance is subject to a reversion provision despite the fact that Trumbull must pay fair market value for the property.

The bill amends a 2007 land conveyance from the DOT that, under current law, must be conveyed to Derek Viel. The bill conveys the 0. 06 acre parcel to the city of New Britain.

It conveys property adjacent to the Air Rights Garage in New Haven to the city of New Haven, rather than transferring to the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS). The city must use the property for economic development purposes; the same designated use as under the 2007 conveyance to DMHAS is for Connecticut Mental Health Center parking. The conveyance to the city includes the typical conditions that it be made for administrative costs, subject to the SPRB's approval, and includes the reversion requirement. Under the bill, New Haven may convey or lease all or part of the property and, if it does so, must transfer to the state proceeds above the cost of improvements. New Haven must get State Traffic Commission and DOT approval to adjust the Route 34 right-of-way.

The bill adds the improvements that are on two parcels of land that DCF conveyed to Middletown in 1999 at fair market value. It changes the specified use from redevelopment to open space, thus amending the price of the property that was to have been reduced by the amount of demolition and disposal costs necessary to redevelop the parcels. The bill requires the reduction to prepare the parcel for open space.

The bill substitutes municipal purposes for open space as the required use for 0. 49 acres of DPW property conveyed in 1998 to Greenwich. It deletes from the reversion clause a requirement in a 2007 conveyance from DEP to Griswold that it develop recreational fields within five years of the conveyance.

The bill requires DEP to convey to Loretta M. Budkofsky for $ 825 land in Windham that was mistakenly acquired by the state.

The bill repeals the 2007 law that authorizes the DOT commissioner, with advice and consent from the secretary of the Office of Policy and Management and the SPRB, to sell, lease, and convey or otherwise dispose of or enter into agreements regarding the land and state-owned buildings obtained for the Route 6 Expressway that is no longer needed for the project. Under current law, the commissioner must notify the chief elected official and local legislators where the property is located within one year after the property is declared surplus. The law sets out the procedures and requirements for transactions involving such property, including Federal Highway Administration approval.

Instead, the bill gives former owners (or their heirs) of property taken to expand Route 6 the option upon written request to repurchase it at fair market value within nine months of the bill's passage. The fair market value is determined by the state, but in no case can it be less than the price DOT paid to acquire the property.

The bill authorizes DEP to lease or authorize control over the Penfield Reef Lighthouse with a right of occupancy to preserve it pursuant to provisions of state and federal law. It specifies that any lease must be for up to 10 years, subject to renewal, and allow for public access, preservation, and education.

Under current law, the net proceeds of all sales and leases of electric company real property received after July 1, 1998 must be used to reduce the company's stranded costs. These are costs that the company had incurred, with the approval of the Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC), whose recovery was jeopardized with the passage of the electric deregulation law. The bill exempts the sale of part of a specific parcel from this requirement. The exemption applies if DPUC approves the sale, before July 1, 2011, of a parcel of approximately 26 acres located at the southeast corner of West Street and Route 3 in Rocky Hill, and applies to approximately 22 acres of this parcel that (1) is no longer used or useful, as determined by DPUC, (2) is not and never was in the company's rate base, and (3) was maintained by the company's shareholders. By law, utility companies are allowed to recover, in rates, the cost of property in their rate bases, as long as this property is used and useful.

The bill requires DOT to convey to Danbury, for the fair market value of a defined trail corridor, an easement over DOT land for the creation of the Ives Trail and Greenway. DPW must grant an easement in favor of Norwich at Three Rivers Community College along New London Turnpike to provide sidewalks and a snow shelf area. The department must also transfer a Department of Developmental Services easement to Enfield.

Yea

Nay

(03/30/2009)