Sec. 14-311c. Developed parcels of land separately owned and utilized together for a single development purpose which affects state highway traffic.
Sec. 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.