LCO No. 4522 1 of 6
General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1141
January Session, 2023
LCO No. 4522
Referred to Committee on PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduced by:
(PD)
AN ACT CONCERNING TRANSIT -ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2023) (a) As used in this section, 1
(1) "as of right" means able to be approved in accordance with the terms 2
of a zoning regulation and without requiring that a public hearing be 3
held, a variance, special permit or special exception be granted or any 4
other discretionary zoning action be taken, and (2) "dwelling unit" 5
means any house or building, or portion thereof, that is occupied, 6
designed to be occupied, or rented, leased or hired out to be occupied, 7
exclusively as a home or residence of one or more persons, without age 8
restrictions, and suitable for families with children. 9
(b) Any zoning regulations adopted pursuant to section 8-2 of the 10
general statutes, as amended by this act, shall allow, as of right, housing 11
developments that (1) have a minimum overall average gross density of 12
fifteen dwelling units per acre, and (2) are located within a one-half-mile 13
radius of any passenger rail or commuter rail station or any bus rapid 14
transit station. A municipality with multiple such stations may calculate 15
overall average allowable gross density across all such stations. 16 Raised Bill No. 1141
LCO No. 4522 2 of 6
(c) Any development permitted pursuant to subsection (b) of this 17
section may be subject to zoning regulations that impose parking 18
requirements not to exceed (1) one parking spot for any studio or one-19
bedroom dwelling unit, and (2) two parking spots for each dwelling unit 20
that contains two or more bedrooms for any housing development with 21
a minimum overall average gross density of at least fifteen dwelling 22
units per acre located within a one-half-mile radius of any passenger rail 23
or commuter rail station or any bus rapid transit station. 24
(d) Any development permitted pursuant to subsection (b) of this 25
section that includes six or more dwelling units on one lot shall set aside 26
not less than ten per cent of the dwelling units in a manner that meets 27
the requirements of (1) assisted housing as defined in section 8-30g of 28
the general statutes, or (2) affordable housing as defined in section 8-30g 29
of the general statutes. Any municipality may provide for incentives, 30
including, but not limited to, higher density development standards, for 31
developers that include assisted housing, as defined in section 8-30g of 32
the general statutes, in any such development. 33
(e) The following lands are exempt from the requirements of 34
subsection (b) of this section: Roadways, railways, regulated inland 35
wetlands and watercourses areas, steep slopes of fifteen per cent or 36
more in grade change within a single lot, ledges, special flood hazard 37
areas defined by the Federal Emergency Mana gement Agency, 38
wetlands, as defined in section 22a-29 of the general statutes, public 39
parkland, land subject to conservation or preservation restrictions, as 40
defined in section 47-42a of the general statutes, coastal resources 41
protected by the Connecticut Coastal Management Act, areas necessary 42
for the protection of drinking water supplies, areas identified as likely 43
to be inundated during a thirty-year flood event by the Connecticut 44
Institute for Resilience and Climate Adaptation pursuant to the 45
institute's responsibilities to conduct sea level change scenarios 46
pursuant to subsection (b) of section 25-68o of the general statutes and 47
areas that are not served by water and sewer infrastructure. 48
(f) The as of right application and review process for approval of 49 Raised Bill No. 1141
LCO No. 4522 3 of 6
housing described in this section shall require that a decision on any 50
such application be rendered not later than sixty-five days after receipt 51
of such application by the applicable zoning official, except that an 52
applicant may consent to one or more extensions of not more than an 53
additional sixty-five days for each such extension or may withdraw such 54
application. 55
(g) If a municipality fails to adopt new regulations or amend existing 56
regulations to comply with the provisions of this section prior to 57
October 1, 2024, any such noncompliant existing regulation shall be void 58
and such municipality shall approve or deny applications in accordance 59
with the requirements of this section until such municipality adopts or 60
amends a regulation in compliance with the provisions of this section. 61
(h) No municipality shall (1) use or impose standards to discourage 62
through unreasonable costs or delays the development of housing 63
developments described in this section, or (2) condition the approval of 64
such housing developments on the correction of a nonconforming use, 65
structure or lot. 66
Sec. 2. Subsection (d) of section 8-2 of the general statutes is repealed 67
and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2023): 68
(d) Zoning regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (a) of this 69
section shall not: 70
(1) Prohibit the operation of any family child care home or group 71
child care home in a residential zone; 72
(2) (A) Prohibit the use of receptacles for the storage of items 73
designated for recycling in accordance with section 22a-241b or require 74
that such receptacles comply with provisions for bulk or lot area, or 75
similar provisions, except provisions for side yards, rear yards and front 76
yards; or (B) unreasonably restrict access to or the size of such 77
receptacles for businesses, given the nature of the business and the 78
volume of items designated for recycling in accordance with section 22a-79
241b, that such business produces in its normal course of business, 80 Raised Bill No. 1141
LCO No. 4522 4 of 6
provided nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit such 81
regulations from requiring the screening or buffering of such receptacles 82
for aesthetic reasons; 83
(3) Impose conditions and requirements on manufactured homes, 84
including mobile manufactured homes, having as their narrowest 85
dimension twenty-two feet or more and built in accordance with federal 86
manufactured home construction and safety standards or on lots 87
containing such manufactured homes, including mobile manufactured 88
home parks, if those conditions and requirements are substantially 89
different from conditions and requirements imposed on (A) single-90
family dwellings; (B) lots containing single-family dwellings; or (C) 91
multifamily dwellings, lots containing multifamily dwellings, cluster 92
developments or planned unit developments; 93
(4) (A) Prohibit the continuance of any nonconforming use, building 94
or structure existing at the time of the adoption of such regulations; (B) 95
require a special permit or special exception for any such continuance; 96
(C) provide for the termination of any nonconforming use solely as a 97
result of nonuse for a specified period of time without regard to the 98
intent of the property owner to maintain that use; or (D) terminate or 99
deem abandoned a nonconforming use, building or structure unless the 100
property owner of such use, building or structure voluntarily 101
discontinues such use, building or structure and such discontinuance is 102
accompanied by an intent to not reestablish such use, building or 103
structure. The demolition or deconstruction of a nonconforming use, 104
building or structure shall not by itself be evidence of such property 105
owner's intent to not reestablish such use, building or structure; 106
(5) Prohibit the installation, in accordance with the provisions of 107
section 8-1bb, of temporary health care structures for use by mentally or 108
physically impaired persons if such structures comply with the 109
provisions of said section, unless the municipality opts out in 110
accordance with the provisions of subsection (j) of said section; 111
(6) Prohibit the operation in a residential zone of any cottage food 112 Raised Bill No. 1141
LCO No. 4522 5 of 6
operation, as defined in section 21a-62b; 113
(7) Establish for any dwelling unit a minimum floor area that is 114
greater than the minimum floor area set forth in the applicable building, 115
housing or other code; 116
(8) Place a fixed numerical or percentage cap on the number of 117
dwelling units that constitute multifamily housing over four units, 118
middle housing or mixed-use development that may be permitted in the 119
municipality; 120
(9) Require more than one parking space for each studio or one-121
bedroom dwelling unit or more than two parking spaces for each 122
dwelling unit with two or more bedrooms, unless the municipality opts 123
out in accordance with the provisions of section 8-2p; [or] 124
(10) Be applied to deny any land use application, including for any 125
site plan approval, special permit, special exception or other zoning 126
approval, on the basis of (A) a district's character, unless such character 127
is expressly articulated in such regulations by clear and explicit physical 128
standards for site work and structures, or (B) the immutable 129
characteristics, source of income or income level of any applicant or end 130
user, other than age or disability whenever age-restricted or disability-131
restricted housing may be permitted; or 132
(11) Prohibit the as of right development of housing developments 133
with a minimum overall average gross density of fifteen dwelling units 134
per acre that are located within a one-half-mile radius of any passenger 135
rail or commuter rail station or any bus rapid transit station, in 136
accordance with the provisions of section 1 of this act. 137
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2023 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2023 8-2(d)
Raised Bill No. 1141
LCO No. 4522 6 of 6
Statement of Purpose:
To allow for the as of right development of housing with a minimum
overall gross density of fifteen dwelling units per acre located within a
one-half-mile radius of any passenger rail or commuter rail station or
any bus rapid transit station.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]