State Codes and Statutes
Statutes > Connecticut > Title22a > Chap445 > Sec22a-133oSec. 22a-133o. Environmental land use restrictions: Requirements. Subordination agreements. Releases. (a) An owner of land may execute and record an environmental use restriction under sections 22a-133n to 22a-133r, inclusive, on the land records of the municipality in which such land is located if (1) the commissioner has adopted standards for the remediation of contaminated land pursuant to section 22a-133k and adopted regulations pursuant to section 22a-133q, (2) the commissioner, or in the case of land for which remedial action was supervised under section 22a-133y, a licensed environmental professional, determines, as evidenced by his signature on such restriction, that it is consistent with the purposes and requirements of sections 22a-133n to 22a-133r, inclusive, and of such standards and regulations, and (3) such restriction will effectively protect public health and the environment from the hazards of pollution.
(b) No owner of land may record an environmental use restriction on the land records of the municipality in which such land is located unless he simultaneously records documents which demonstrate that each person holding an interest in such land or any part thereof, including without limitation each mortgagee, lessee, lienor and encumbrancer, irrevocably subordinates such interest to the environmental use restriction provided the commissioner may waive such requirement if he finds that the interest in such land is so minor as to be unaffected by the environmental land use restriction. An environmental use restriction shall run with land, shall bind the owner of the land and his successors and assigns, and shall be enforceable notwithstanding lack of privity of estate or contract or benefit to particular land.
(c) Within seven days of executing an environmental use restriction and receiving thereon the signature of the commissioner or licensed environmental professional, as the case may be, the owner of the land involved therein shall record such restriction and documents required under subsection (b) of this section on the land records of the municipality in which such land is located and shall submit to the commissioner a certificate of title certifying that each interest in such land or any part thereof is irrevocably subordinated to the environmental use restriction in accordance with said subsection (b).
(d) An owner of land with respect to which an environmental use restriction applies may be released, wholly or in part, from the limitations of such restriction only with the commissioner's written approval which shall be consistent with the regulations adopted pursuant to section 22a-133q and shall be recorded on the land records of the municipality in which such land is located provided the commissioner may waive the requirement to record such release if he finds that the activity which is the subject of such release does not affect the overall purpose for which the environmental land use restriction was implemented and does not alter the size of the area subject to the environmental land use restriction. The commissioner shall not approve any such release unless the owner demonstrates that he has remediated the land, or such portion thereof as would be affected by the release, in accordance with the standards established pursuant to section 22a-133k.
(e) An environmental use restriction shall survive foreclosure of a mortgage, lien or other encumbrance.
(P.A. 94-198, S. 5, 13; P.A. 95-169, S. 2; 95-190, S. 12, 17; P.A. 96-113, S. 9, 17; P.A. 97-218, S. 2.)
History: P.A. 94-198 effective June 7, 1994; P.A. 95-169 amended Subsecs. (a) to (d), inclusive, to provide for the recording of environmental use restrictions on town land records instead of in a registry maintained by the Commissioner of Environmental Protection; P.A. 95-190 added provisions to allow licensed environmental professionals to sign environmental use restrictions and to provide that such restrictions be recorded on town land records rather than in registry maintained by commissioner, effective June 29, 1995; P.A. 96-113 amended Subsecs. (b) and (c) to add provisions re documentation supporting subordination agreements, effective May 24, 1996; P.A. 97-218 amended Subsec. (b) to provide that the commissioner may waive requirements for documentation of a subordination agreement if he finds that the interest to be subordinated is so minor as to be unaffected by the land use restriction, and amended Subsec. (d) to allow a waiver of the recording of a release from the restriction under this section if he finds that the activity which is the subject of the release does not affect the overall purpose of the restriction and does not alter the size of the area subject to the restriction.
