In Connecticut, tools to protect natural resources are also available to communities through the traditional subdivision process. In CT, Conservation Commissions are charged with inventorying and cataloguing natural resource information. Conservation Commissions can also review subdivisions and make recommendations to Planning and/or Inland Wetlands Commissions to ensure that important natural features are protected and not adversely impacted by new development. Today more communities in the QSHC are utilizing the knowledge and information available to them through their Conservation Commissions. For more information see Conservation Commissions.
Another important tool in CT is the allowance for an Open Space Dedication or Fee in lieu of that open space dedication. This tool gives CT towns an opportunity to protect those open spaces that are most important to them. Once a town has developed an open space plan, it can request that priority resource areas (a percentage of the site area) are set aside through the development process or that funding is set aside (in lieu of) to protect priority resources in the future. For more information see Conservation Commissions.
Connecticut Statutory Requirements
Chapter 126, Section 8-25, Subdivision of land, says that 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, that proper provision shall be made for water, sewerage and drainage, including the upgrading of any downstream ditch, culvert or other drainage structure … and that the proposed streets are in harmony with existing or proposed principal thoroughfares shown in the plan of conservation and development as described in section 8-23, especially in regard to safe intersections with such thoroughfares, and so arranged and of such width, as to provide an adequate and convenient system for present and prospective traffic needs. Such regulations shall also provide that the commission may require the provision of open spaces, parks and playgrounds when, and in places, deemed proper by the planning commission, which open spaces, 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.”
For the complete version of Chapter 126, Section 8-25 go to: http://www.cga.ct.gov/2005/pub/Chap126.htm#Sec8-25.htm
In Massachusetts, the Subdivision Control Law (adopted in 1953) was designed to “provide suitable ways for access furnished with appropriate municipal utilities, and to secure sanitary conditions.” The purpose was to establish the identity of new, individual building lots and to eliminate title defects. In MA, the statute must be adopted by cities and towns to be in effect. Planning Board regulations regulate the process, including such things as the presentation of plans, utility placement, limitations of one residential building per lot, and issues related to the grade of ways of subdivisions.
Under the statute, a subdivision is a division of a tract of land into two or more lots, including re-subdivision, and relates specifically to the process itself. Of note is the fact that excluded from this definition are lots that are being divided out and have frontage on a public way, a way maintained as a public way or a way in existence when the law first became effective in that town – lots now referred to as ANR (approval not required) or Form A lots. Though ANR lots do not require subdivision approval, they much go through an initial process to get the ANR status.
Regular non-residential subdivision planning begins with the submission of a preliminary plan (as of 1986) to both the planning board and the board of health. Lots for a residential subdivision can avoid this step. In reality, however, submitting a preliminary plan on even residential projects makes sense – it can be less costly to find out the planning board issues on a preliminary plan. The approval of a preliminary plan and the submission of a definitive plan within seven (7) months “freezes” the zoning in effect with regard to the land and “freezes” the environmental code provisions in effect during the time the plan is being processed. The definitive plan is a final working document and is recorded at the registry of deeds.
The planning board rules and regulations govern what is contained within this plan. It may include such things as impact reports (schools, roads, utilities, environmental, etc.) and aesthetic aspects of the proposal. A planning board also retains the power to modify, amend or rescind its approval of a plan of subdivision if good reason is shown.
One of the most unusual aspects of Massachusetts subdivision law is the fact that the filing of a definitive plan “freezes” the zoning in effect at the time the plan is submitted to the planning board for a period of eight (8) years, starting as of the date of the endorsement of the plan.
Massachusetts Statutory Requirement
Subdivision Control is Chapter 41, Sections 81K-81GG. http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/gl-41-toc.htm
