(A) Pursuant to the provisions of Conn. Gen. Stat. § 7-149a, as amended, the Planning Commission of the town (the “Commission”) may designate town highways or portions thereof as scenic roads. No state highway or portion thereof and no private highway or portion thereof may be designated as a scenic road under this section.
(B) No highway or portion of a highway may be designated as a scenic road unless the owners of a majority of lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of the highway agree to the designation by filing a written statement of approval with the Town Clerk.
(C) Any owner of land located within the town may file an application with the Commission requesting that a town highway or portion thereof be designated as a scenic road. Alternatively, the Commission by motion may initiate the procedures to designate a town highway or portion thereof as a scenic road.
(D) Property owners seeking scenic road designation shall submit an application to the Commission. The application shall contain the following information:
(1) The name, address and telephone number of the applicant;
(2) The name of the town highway and the total length (in feet) of the portion to be designated as a scenic road;
(3) A brief description of the town highway and those characteristics of the town highway or portion thereof which meet the criteria specified in division (H) below; and
(4) The names, addresses and the amount of frontage (in feet) of all owners of lots abutting the town highway or any portion thereof proposed for designation as a scenic road.
(E) Simultaneously with the filing of an application for the designation of a scenic road with the Commission, the applicant, or the Commission if it initiates the procedures to designate a town highway as a scenic road, shall file with the Town Clerk written statement(s) of approval as required in division (B) above. The statements of approval shall contain the name, mailing address, street address, total distance of applicable lot frontage in feet and the signature of owner(s) of a majority of the lot frontage abutting the portion of the town highway proposed for such designation.
(F) Upon receipt of the written statement(s) of approval the Town Clerk shall forward certified copies thereof to the Assessor. The Assessor shall ascertain the ownership and the total lot frontage of the owners signing the statement(s), and shall determine whether said total lot frontage constitutes a majority of lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of the highway to be designated as a scenic road. The Assessor shall report such findings to the Commission within 14 days from the date that the Assessor receives the statement(s) from the Town Clerk.
(G) (1) Upon receipt of a report from the Assessor that the owners of a majority of the lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of the highway to be designated as a scenic road have signed statements of approval as required by division (B) above, the Commission shall conduct a public hearing to consider an application for a designation of a scenic road. The public hearing shall commence within 65 days after the Commission’s receipt of the Assessor’s report, and shall be completed within 35 days after it commences. The Commission shall render a decision within 65 days after the completion of such public hearing. The applicant, or the Commission if it initiates the scenic road designation procedures, may consent to one or more extensions of any period specified in this section, provided the total extension of all such periods shall not be for longer than 65 days, or may withdraw such application.
(2) The Commission shall prepare a notice of the public hearing, post a copy of the notice in the office of the Town Clerk for public viewing and shall publish the notice in a newspaper having a general circulation in the town at least twice, at intervals of not less than two days, the first not more than 15 days or less than ten days and the last not less than two days before the date set for the hearing. The applicant, or the Commission when it initiates the scenic road designation procedure, shall mail copies of the notice by way of a certificate of mailing to the owners of all of the property having frontage abutting the portion of the town highway proposed for designation as a scenic road. Such mailing shall be made no later than ten days before the date of the hearing inclusive of the date of mailing but not the date of the hearing. The applicant, or the Commission if it initiates the scenic road designation procedure, shall submit proof of such mailing to the Commission at or before the commencement of the public hearing.
(H) (1) The Commission may approve the application as submitted or may designate a lesser portion of the highway as a scenic road, provided that prior to designating a town highway or any portion of a highway as a scenic road, the Commission shall first find that the owners of a majority of the lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of the highway to be designated as a scenic road have signed statements of approval as required by division (B) above. The Commission shall also find the highway or proposed portion thereof is free of intensive commercial development and free of intensive vehicular traffic. In addition, the Commission must find that the town highway or portion thereof meets at least one of the following criteria:
(a) It offers scenic views;
(b) It is bordered by mature trees or stone walls;
(c) It blends naturally into the surrounding terrain;
(d) It parallels or crosses over brooks, streams, lakes or ponds;
(e) The traveled portion is no more than 20 feet in width; and
(f) It is unpaved.
(2) If the Commission approves the designation of a scenic road or a lesser portion thereof, it shall state the scenic characteristics for which the Commission determines protection is warranted.
(3) If the Commission fails to act on the application within the time frames set forth in this section, the application shall be deemed to be denied in its entirety.
(I) The Commission shall publish a notice of its decision designating a scenic road in a newspaper having a general circulation within the town within 15 days after the date of the decision. The notice shall specify the highway or portion thereof, which the Commission designates as a scenic road. If the Commission approves the application, it shall notify the First Selectman, the Zoning Commission, the Town Highway Superintendent, Director of Public Works and the Town Tree Warden of the designation within 15 days after the date of the decision, specifying the scenic characteristics for which the Commission determines protection is warranted. The town shall create and maintain a map that depicts the name, location and distance (in feet) of any town highway designated as a scenic road. Any failure to provide such notice to such town officials or to create or maintain such map shall not affect the validity of the designation.
(J) Any person aggrieved by a designation of a town highway or portion thereof as a scenic road pursuant to this section, may appeal such designation in the same manner and utilizing the same standards of review provided for appeals from the decisions of the Commission under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 8-8.
(K) (1) A scenic road designation shall not affect the town’s obligation to maintain and repair such road by such methods and in such a manner as may be necessary to keep the road in a safe and passable condition at all times. Such work shall as nearly as practicable preserve the scenic characteristics of the highway for which the Commission determines protection is warranted. Such work may be performed by or on behalf of the town without prior approval of the Commission.
(2) Any tree trimming, excavating or maintenance work performed in a designated scenic road by or on behalf of public service companies, as more particularly described in Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 16-229, 16-234 and 16-235, may be performed without prior approval of the Commission.
(L) (1) No road which has been designated as a scenic road shall be altered or improved, including, but not limited to, widening of the right-of-way or the travel portion of the road, changes of grade or roadway surface treatment, removal of stone bridges, straightening, removal of stone walls, or removal of mature trees, except for good cause determined by the Commission. The Commission may hold a public hearing on any such proposed alterations or improvements if it deems that the public interest might be best served by doing so.
(2) This division (L) is in addition to, and not in lieu of, the requirements for such work as more particularly set forth in the following ordinances:
(a) “Ordinance Regulating Excavations, Cuts, Fill and Change of Grade in Public Highways”, adopted January 28, 1965, as codified in § 97.01 of this code of ordinances;
(b) “Ordinance Concerning Change in Grade, Excavating, Paving and Filling”, adopted May 2, 1970, as codified in § 97.02 of this code of ordinances; and
(c) “Ordinance Concerning Damage to Highways”, adopted September 21, 1975, as codified in § 150.070 of this code of ordinances.
(M) A scenic road designation may be rescinded by the Commission, using the same procedures provided herein for designation of a scenic road and having written concurrence of the owners of a majority of lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of the highway.
(Ord. passed 5-30-2009; Ord. effective 7-1-2011)