State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Connecticut > Title14 > Chap249 > Sec14-311cSec. 14-311c. Developed parcels of land separately owned and utilized together for a single development purpose which affects state highway traffic. (a) No group of persons, firms, corporations, state agencies or municipal agencies or combination thereof shall build, expand, establish or operate any open air theater, shopping center or other development generating large volumes of traffic on any group of individual parcels of land which are separately owned but are utilized together for a single development purpose, whether or not such parcels are separated by any state, local or private roadway, having an exit or entrance on, or abutting or adjoining, any state highway or substantially affecting state highway traffic within this state until such group has procured from the State Traffic Commission a certificate that the operation thereof will not imperil the safety of the public.
(b) No local building official shall issue a building or foundation permit to any such group or member thereof to build, expand, establish or operate such a development until the group or member provides to such official a copy of the certificate issued under this section by the commission. If the commission determines that any group or member has (1) started building, expanding, establishing or operating such a development without first obtaining a certificate from the commission or (2) has failed to comply with the conditions of such a certificate, it shall order the group or member to (A) cease constructing, expanding, establishing or operating the development or (B) to comply with the conditions of the certificate within a reasonable period of time. If such group or member fails to (i) cease such work or (ii) comply with an order of the commission within such time as specified by the commission, the commission or the traffic authority of the municipality wherein the development is located may make an application to the superior court for the judicial district of Hartford or the judicial district where the development is located enjoining the construction, expansion, establishment or the operation of such development.
(c) The State Traffic Commission shall issue its decision on an application for a certificate under subsection (a) of this section not later than one hundred twenty days after it is filed, except that, if the commission needs additional information from the applicant, it shall notify the applicant in writing as to what information is required and (1) the commission may toll the running of such one-hundred-twenty-day period by the number of days between and including the date such notice is received by the applicant and the date the additional information is received by the commission and (2) if the commission receives the additional information during the last ten days of the one-hundred-twenty-day period and needs additional time to review and analyze such information, it may extend such period by not more than fifteen days. The State Traffic Commission may also, at its discretion, postpone action on any application submitted pursuant to this section or section 14-311a until such time as it is shown that an application has been filed with and approved by the municipal planning and zoning agency or other responsible municipal agency.
(d) In determining the advisability of such certification, the State Traffic Commission shall include, in its consideration, highway safety, the width and character of the highways affected, the density of traffic thereon, the character of such traffic and the opinion and findings of the traffic authority of the municipality wherein the development is located. If the State Traffic Commission determines that traffic signals, pavement markings, channelization, pavement widening or other changes or traffic control devices are required to handle traffic safely and efficiently, one hundred per cent of the cost thereof shall be borne by the group building, establishing or operating such open air theater, shopping center or other development generating large volumes of traffic, except that such cost shall not be borne by any municipal agency. The Commissioner of Transportation may issue a permit to said group to construct or install the changes required by the State Traffic Commission, in consultation with the local traffic authority.
(e) Any group aggrieved by any decision of the State Traffic Commission hereunder may appeal therefrom in accordance with the provisions of section 4-183, except venue for such appeal shall be in the judicial district in which it is proposed to operate such establishment. The provisions of this section except insofar as such provisions relate to expansion shall not apply to any open air theater, shopping center or other development generating large volumes of traffic which has received all necessary permits, variances, exceptions and approvals from the municipal zoning commission, planning commission, combined planning and zoning commission and zoning board of appeals in which such development is located prior to or on July 1, 1985, or to any such development which is in operation on that date.
(P.A. 85-498, S. 2, 3; P.A. 88-230, S. 1, 12; P.A. 90-98, S. 1, 2; 90-342, S. 2, 5; P.A. 93-142, S. 4, 7, 8; P.A. 95-220, S. 4-6.)
History: P.A. 90-342 added provision in Subsec. (b) authorizing injunction for failure to comply with commission's orders and provision in Subsec. (d) requiring the commission to seek the opinion of the traffic authority of the municipality where the development is located (Revisor's note: P.A. 88-230 and P.A. 90-98 authorized substitution of "judicial district of Hartford" for "judicial district of Hartford-New Britain" in public and special acts of the 1990 session, effective September 1, 1993); P.A. 93-142 changed the effective date of P.A. 88-230 from September 1, 1993, to September 1, 1996, effective June 14, 1993; P.A. 95-220 changed the effective date of P.A. 88-230 from September 1, 1996, to September 1, 1998, effective July 1, 1995.
See Sec. 14-311 re open air theaters, shopping centers and certain other developments affecting state highway traffic.
