The town council shall appoint a plan and zoning
commission for such terms as shall be determined by ordinance.
The plan and zoning commission as constituted
in West Hartford prior to the effective date of this charter, until
replaced, shall continue to serve, and shall have and exercise all
the powers granted under this chapter, and all acts of such commission,
otherwise valid and not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter,
shall be valid.
No member of the plan and zoning commission
and no member of the zoning board of appeals or any other municipal
agency exercising the powers of any plan and zoning commission or
board of appeals, whether existing under the provisions of the general
statutes, or under provisions of the charter of the town of West Hartford,
shall appear for or represent any person, firm or corporation or other
entity in any matter pending before any of said commissions or boards,
in the municipality, whether or not he or she is a member of the board
or commission hearing such matter. No member of the plan and zoning
commission, zoning board of appeals, or council, when the council
is acting as the planning or zoning authority, shall participate in
the hearing or decision of the board or commission of which he or
she is a member upon any matter in which he or she is directly or
indirectly interested in a personal or financial sense. In the event
of such disqualification, such fact shall be entered on the records
of the commission or board and the remaining members of the commission
or board, unless otherwise provided, shall choose an elector of the
town to act as a member of the commission or board in the particular
matter or matters in which the disqualification arose.
The plan and zoning commission shall prepare,
adopt and amend a plan of development for the municipality, subject
to the approval of the town council. Actions of the plan and zoning
commission relative to planning shall be final actions, subject to
appeals to courts of competent jurisdiction, as provided elsewhere
in this chapter, unless the council, within fifteen days after receiving
written notification of such actions filed with the town clerk, shall
indicate that it does not approve of such action. If the council indicates
that it does not concur with the actions of the plan and zoning commission
concerning any portion of a planning action, the council shall then
proceed to act on that portion of the planning proposal in which it
does not concur with the plan and zoning commission, as if the council
were constituted as the planning authority.
A plan of development may show the commission's
recommendation for the most desirable use of land within the town
for residential, recreational, commercial, industrial and other purposes;
for the most desirable density of population in the several parts
of the municipality; for a system of principal thoroughfares, parkways,
bridges, streets and other public ways; for airports, parks, playgrounds
and other public grounds; for general location, relocation and improvement
of public buildings; for the general location and extent of public
utilities and terminals, whether publicly or privately owned; for
water, sewerage, light, power, transit and other purposes; and for
the extent and location of public housing projects. Such other recommendations
may be made by the commission and included in the plan as will, in
its judgment, be beneficial to the town. The plan shall be based on
studies of the physical, social, economic and governmental conditions
and trends and shall be designed to promote with the greatest efficiency
and economy the coordinated development of the municipality, and the
general welfare and prosperity of its people. The commission shall
file an annual report with the town council. The commission may prepare
and adopt plans for the redevelopment and improvement of districts
or neighborhoods which, in its judgment, contain special problems
or show a trend toward lower land values. Such commission may adopt
the plan by a single resolution or may, by successive resolutions,
adopt parts of the plan, whether geographical or functional, and amendments
thereto. Prior to adopting the development plan or any part thereof
or amendment thereto, the commission shall file in the office of the
town clerk a copy of such plan or part thereof or amendment thereto
and shall hold at least one public hearing thereon, notice of the
time and place of which shall be published in a newspaper having general
circulation in the municipality, at least seven days prior to the
date of such hearing, which notice shall make reference to the filing
of such records in the office of the town clerk. Any plan or part
thereof or amendment thereto shall, upon adoption by the commission,
be filed in the office of the town clerk and shall become effective
at a time established by the commission, provided notice thereof shall
be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the town
prior to such effective date.
No action shall be taken by any municipal agency
on any proposal involving the location, acceptance, widening, narrowing
or extension of streets, bridges, parkways and other public ways;
the location, relocation, acquisition of land for, or the abandonment,
sale or lease of, airports, parks, playgrounds and other municipally
owned properties and public buildings, the extent and location of
public utilities and terminals, whether publicly or privately owned,
for water, sewerage, light, power, transit and other purposes, and
for the extent and location of public housing projects and the redevelopment,
reconditioning or improvement of specific areas until it has been
referred to the commission for report. The failure of the commission
to report within thirty days after the date of official submission
to it shall be taken as approval of the proposal. In the case of the
disapproval of the proposal by the commission, the reasons therefor
shall be recorded and transmitted to the town council. A proposal
disapproved by the commission shall be adopted by the town only after
a two-thirds majority vote of the town council members.
The commission is authorized, unless otherwise
provided by ordinance, to prepare and file surveys, maps or plans
of proposed highways, streets, sidewalks or the relocation, grade,
widening or improvement of existing highways, streets or sidewalks,
or of any building or veranda lines proposed as herein provided, in
the office of the town clerk, provided such map or plan after completion
shall have been approved at a meeting of the commission called for
the purpose. Such map or plan shall have inscribed thereon the following:
"Recommended by plan commission" and shall bear a date of such recommendation
and be signed by the chairperson or secretary. Such commission shall,
upon the filing of such survey, map or plan, give notice to each record
owner of land included in such survey, map or plan, by mail and by
advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation in the town, of
the place where, and the time, not less than ten days after such mailing
and publication, when the commission shall hear any person claiming
to be affected thereby. The commission, after such hearing, may approve
and adopt such map or plan, and may refer such approved and adopted
map or plan to the board of special assessments appointed pursuant
to Charter Chapter IV, Section 7, or to the town council, if no such
board is appointed, for the assessment of benefits accruing to and
damages sustained by any person owning land included in such survey,
map or plan. Notice by mail of such changes shall be given by such
commission to each record owner of land affected thereby and by advertisement
as in the first instance and the subsequent proceedings shall be as
provided in the case of an original filing.
Any person affected may appeal from the action
of said commission taken under Section 7 of this chapter within thirty
days after notice to him or her of the adoption of a survey, map or
plan, and any interested party may join in such appeal. Separate appeals
relating to the same survey, map or plan arising out of the same subject
matter may be heard as one cause. Such appeal shall be taken to the
superior court for the judicial district of Hartford-New Britain,
and shall be served and returned as process in other civil actions.
Said court may, by committee or otherwise, review, revoke, modify
or affirm any act of such commission and, if such act is revoked,
award costs against the town, otherwise against the appellant or appellants
and may issue execution accordingly.
No subdivision of land shall be made until a
plan for such subdivision has been approved by the commission. Any
person, firm or corporation making any subdivision of land without
the approval of the commission shall be fined not more than two hundred
dollars for each lot sold or offered for sale or so subdivided. All
plans for subdivision shall, upon approval, be filed or recorded in
the office of the town clerk, and any plan, not so filed or recorded
within ninety days following its approval by the commission or within
ninety days of the date upon which the plan is taken as approved by
reason of the failure of the commission to act, shall become null
and void. No such plan shall be recorded or filed by the town clerk
or other officer duly authorized to record or file plans until its
approval has been endorsed thereon, and the filing or recording of
a subdivision plan without such approval shall be void. Before exercising
the powers granted in this section, the commission shall adopt regulations
covering the subdivision of land. No such regulations shall become
effective until after a public hearing, notice of time, place and
purpose of which shall be given by publication in a newspaper of general
circulation in the town at least seven days prior to the date of such
hearing. Such regulations shall provide that the land to be subdivided
shall be of such character that it can be used for building purposes
without danger to health or the public safety, the proper provisions
shall be made for water, drainage and sewerage and, in areas contiguous
to brooks, rivers or other bodies of water subject to flooding, that
proper provision shall be made for protective flood control measures,
that the proposed streets are in harmony with existing or proposed
principal thoroughfares shown in the plan for development as described
in Section 5 of this chapter especially in regard to safe intersections
with such thoroughfares, and be arranged and of such widths as to
provide an adequate and convenient system for present and prospective
traffic needs and that in places deemed proper by the planning commission
open spaces for parks and playgrounds shall be shown on the subdivision
plan. The commission may also prescribe the extent to which and the
manner in which streets shall be graded and improved and public utilities
and services provided and in lieu of the completion of such work and
installations previous to the final approval of a plan, the commission
may accept a bond in an amount and with surety and conditions satisfactory
to it securing the municipality the actual construction and installation
of such improvements and utilities within a period specified in the
bond. Such regulations may provide, in lieu of the completion of the
work and installations above referred to, previous to the final approval
of a plan, for an assessment or other method whereby the town is put
in an assured position to do such work and make such installations
at the expense of the owners of the property within the subdivision.
All plans for subdivision shall be submitted
to the commission with an application in a form to be prescribed by
it. The commission may hold public hearings regarding any subdivision
proposal if, in its judgment, the specific circumstances require such
action. No plan of resubdivision shall be acted upon by the commission
without a public hearing. Notice of the public hearing shall be given
not less than seven days before the date of such hearing by publication
once in a newspaper of general circulation in the town and by sending
a copy thereof by registered or certified mail to the applicant. The
commission shall approve, modify or disapprove a subdivision within
sixty days after the submission thereof. The failure of the commission
to act thereon shall be considered as an approval, and a certificate
to that effect shall be issued by the commission on demand, provided
an extension of this period may be had with the consent of the applicant.
The grounds for disapproval shall be stated in the records of the
commission.
Except as provided in Section 8 of this chapter,
any person aggrieved by an official action of the commission may appeal
therefrom within fifteen days of such official action to the superior
court for the judicial district of Hartford-New Britain.
The town council may, by ordinance, prohibit
or regulate the issuance of building permits for the erection of buildings
or structures in unapproved subdivisions or on lots abutting unaccepted
highways or streets. No such ordinance shall prevent the issuance
of a building permit for the construction of farm or accessory buildings,
which are not in violation of any lawful zoning or building regulations
of the town. Any building erected in violation of any such ordinance
shall be deemed an unlawful structure, and the town, through the appropriate
officer, may bring action to enjoin the erection of such structure
or cause it to be razed or removed. Any person, firm or corporation
erecting a building or structure in violation of any such ordinance
may be fined not more than two hundred dollars for each building or
structure so erected in addition to the relief herein otherwise granted
to the town.
