Substitute House Bill No. 5489
Substitute House Bill No. 5489
PUBLIC ACT NO. 98-188
AN ACT CONCERNING SUBDIVISIONS, WITHHOLDING
BUILDING APPROVAL WHEN WATER AND SEWER FEES ARE
DELINQUENT, FIRE INSURANCE PROCEEDS AND FIRE
SPRINKLERS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (d) of section 8-26c of
the general statutes is repealed and the following
is substituted in lieu thereof:
(d) Notwithstanding the provisions of this
section, any subdivision approval made under this
section on or before October 1, 1991, shall expire
not more than seven years from the date of such
approval and the commission may grant one or more
extensions of time to complete all or part of the
work in connection with such subdivision, provided
the time for all extensions under this subsection
shall not exceed ten years from the date the
subdivision was approved. If the subdivider or his
successor in interest submits evidence to the
commission that completion of the project was
delayed because of a state or federal construction
project, the approval shall expire not more than
ten years from the date of such approval and the
commission may grant one or more extensions of
time to complete all or part of the work in
connection with such subdivision, provided the
time for all extensions shall not exceed fifteen
years from the date the subdivision was approved.
IF THE SUBDIVIDER OR HIS SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST
PREVAILS IN AN APPEAL OF A DECISION OF THE
COMMISSION ON THE SUBDIVISION UNDER SECTION 8-8,
THE TIME TO COMPLETE THE SUBDIVISION SHALL BE
TOLLED FOR THE TIME OF SUCH APPEAL AND UNTIL THE
COMMISSION IMPLEMENTS THE JUDICIAL DECISION.
Sec. 2. Subdivision (2) of subsection (c) of
section 7-148 of the general statutes is repealed
and the following is substituted in lieu thereof:
(2) (A) Establish and maintain a budget
system;
(B) Assess, levy and collect taxes for general
or special purposes on all property, subjects or
objects which may be lawfully taxed, and regulate
the mode of assessment and collection of taxes and
assessments not otherwise provided for, including
establishment of a procedure for the withholding
of approval of building application when taxes OR
WATER OR SEWER RATES, CHARGES OR ASSESSMENTS
IMPOSED BY THE MUNICIPALITY are delinquent for the
property for which an application was made;
(C) Make appropriations for the support of the
municipality and pay its debts;
(D) Make appropriations for the purpose of
meeting a public emergency threatening the lives,
health or property of citizens, provided such
appropriations shall require a favorable vote of
at least two-thirds of the entire membership of
the legislative body or, when the legislative body
is the town meeting, at least two-thirds of those
present and voting;
(E) Make appropriations to military
organizations, hospitals, health care facilities,
public health nursing organizations, nonprofit
museums and libraries, organizations providing
drug abuse and dependency programs and any other
private organization performing a public function;
(F) Provide for the manner in which contracts
involving unusual expenditures shall be made;
(G) When not specifically prescribed by
general statute or by charter, prescribe the form
of proceedings and mode of assessing benefits and
appraising damages in taking land for public use,
or in making public improvements to be paid for,
in whole or in part, by special assessments, and
prescribe the manner in which all benefits
assessed shall be collected;
(H) Provide for the bonding of municipal
officials or employees by requiring the furnishing
of such bond, conditioned upon honesty or faithful
performance of duty and determine the amount,
form, and sufficiency of the sureties thereof;
(I) Regulate the method of borrowing money for
any purpose for which taxes may be levied and
borrow on the faith and credit of the municipality
for such general or special purposes and to such
extent as is authorized by general statute;
(J) Provide for the temporary borrowing of
money;
(K) Create a sinking fund or funds or a trust
fund or funds or other special funds, including
funds which do not lapse at the end of the
municipal fiscal year;
(L) Provide for the assignment of municipal
tax liens on real property to the extent
authorized by general statute.
Sec. 3. The provisions of Section
19-13-B38a(c)(2)(I) of the regulations of
Connecticut state agencies, adopted pursuant to
section 19a-37a of the general statutes,
concerning requirements for installation of a
reduced pressure principle backflow preventer or
an air gap on a line to an existing fire sprinkler
system, shall be effective July 1, 1999.
Sec. 4. Section 49-73b of the general
statutes, as amended by section 6 of public act
97-320, is repealed and the following is
substituted in lieu thereof:
(a) Any municipality which has incurred
expenses for the inspection, repair, demolition,
removal or other disposition of any real estate in
order to secure such real estate or to make it
safe shall have the right to recover such expenses
from the owner of the real estate for which such
expenses were incurred.
(b) The interest of each person in such real
estate shall be subject to a lien for the payment
of such expenses, which lien shall take precedence
over any other encumbrance except municipal tax
assessments on such real estate. No such lien
shall be valid, unless the municipality, within
thirty days after such work has ceased, files a
certificate of such lien and gives notice to the
owner of the real estate in the same manner as
provided in section 49-34.
(c) The interest of each person in the
proceeds of any policy providing [fire] insurance
coverage issued by an insurance company FOR A LOSS
TO A COVERED RESIDENTIAL OR COMMERCIAL STRUCTURE,
including any policy written pursuant to the
provisions of section 38a-670, shall be subject to
a lien on such proceeds for the expenses incurred
by a municipality pursuant to the provisions of
subsection (a) of this section, provided such
municipality, within thirty days after such work
has ceased, files a certificate of such lien and
gives notice to such interested person in the same
manner as provided in section 49-34.
(d) Any municipal lien filed pursuant to the
provisions of this section may be foreclosed in
the same manner as a mortgage.
(e) Any certificate of lien filed pursuant to
this section shall exist from the fifteenth day
succeeding the date of entry of such certificate
in the land records.
(f) Any municipal lien filed pursuant to this
section may be discharged or dissolved in the
manner provided in sections 49-35a to 49-37,
inclusive.
(g) Nothing in this section shall prevent an
insured owner, mortgagee, assignee or other
interested party from negotiating a dissolution of
any such lien on the [fire] insurance proceeds,
enabling the insurance company to disburse said
proceeds.
(h) The provisions of this section shall not
apply to policies on single-family or two-family
dwellings.
Sec. 5. This act shall take effect from its
passage except that section 2 shall take effect
October 1, 1998, and section 4 shall apply to
liens filed on and after July 1, 1997.
Approved June 4, 1998