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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 7061
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 4773
Referred to Committee on PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduced by:
(PD)
AN ACT CONCERNING MANDATORY MINIMUM PARKING
REQUIREMENTS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsections (c) and (d) of section 8-2 of the general statutes 1
are repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective 2
October 1, 2025): 3
(c) Zoning regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (a) of this 4
section may: 5
(1) To the extent consistent with soil types, terrain and water, sewer 6
and traffic infrastructure capacity for the community, provide for or 7
require cluster development, as defined in section 8-18; 8
(2) Be made with reasonable consideration for the protection of 9
historic factors; 10
(3) Require or promote (A) energy-efficient patterns of development; 11
(B) the use of distributed generation or freestanding solar, wind and 12
other renewable forms of energy; (C) combined heat and power; and (D) 13
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energy conservation; 14
(4) Provide for incentives for developers who use (A) solar and other 15
renewable forms of energy; (B) combined heat and power; (C) water 16
conservation, including demand offsets; and (D) energy conservation 17
techniques, including, but not limited to, cluster development, higher 18
density development and performance standards for roads, sidewalks 19
and underground facilities in the subdivision; 20
(5) Provide for a municipal system for the creation of development 21
rights and the permanent transfer of such development rights, which 22
may include a system for the variance of density limits in connection 23
with any such transfer; 24
(6) Provide for notice requirements in addition to those required by 25
this chapter; 26
(7) Provide for conditions on operations to collect spring water or 27
well water, as defined in section 21a-150, including the time, place and 28
manner of such operations; 29
(8) Provide for floating zones, overlay zones and planned 30
development districts; 31
(9) Require estimates of vehicle miles traveled and vehicle trips 32
generated in lieu of, or in addition to, level of service traffic calculations 33
to assess (A) the anticipated traffic impact of proposed developments; 34
and (B) potential mitigation strategies such as [reducing the amount of 35
required parking for a development or] requiring public sidewalks, 36
crosswalks, bicycle paths, bicycle racks or bus shelters, including off-37
site; and 38
(10) In any municipality where a traprock ridge or an amphibolite 39
ridge is located, (A) provide for development restrictions in ridgeline 40
setback areas; and (B) restrict quarrying and clear cutting, except that 41
the following operations and uses shall be permitted in ridgeline setback 42
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areas, as of right: (i) Emergency work necessary to protect life and 43
property; (ii) any nonconforming uses that were in existence and that 44
were approved on or before the effective date of regulations adopted 45
pursuant to this section; and (iii) selective timbering, grazing of 46
domesticated animals and passive recreation. 47
(d) Zoning regulations adopted pursuant to subsection (a) of this 48
section shall not: 49
(1) (A) Prohibit the operation in a residential zone of any family child 50
care home or group child care home located in a residence, or (B) require 51
any special zoning permit or special zoning exception for such 52
operation; 53
(2) (A) Prohibit the use of receptacles for the storage of items 54
designated for recycling in accordance with section 22a-241b or require 55
that such receptacles comply with provisions for bulk or lot area, or 56
similar provisions, except provisions for side yards, rear yards and front 57
yards; or (B) unreasonably restrict access to or the size of such 58
receptacles for businesses, given the nature of the business and the 59
volume of items designated for recycling in accordance with section 22a-60
241b, that such business produces in its normal course of business, 61
provided nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit such 62
regulations from requiring the screening or buffering of such receptacles 63
for aesthetic reasons; 64
(3) Impose conditions and requirements on manufactured homes, 65
including mobile manufactured homes, having as their narrowest 66
dimension twenty-two feet or more and built in accordance with federal 67
manufactured home construction and safety standards or on lots 68
containing such manufactured homes, including mobile manufactured 69
home parks, if those conditions and requirements are substantially 70
different from conditions and requirements imposed on (A) single-71
family dwellings; (B) lots containing single-family dwellings; or (C) 72
multifamily dwellings, lots containing multifamily dwellings, cluster 73
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developments or planned unit developments; 74
(4) (A) Prohibit the continuance of any nonconforming use, building 75
or structure existing at the time of the adoption of such regulations; (B) 76
require a special permit or special exception for any such continuance; 77
(C) provide for the termination of any nonconforming use solely as a 78
result of nonuse for a specified period of time without regard to the 79
intent of the property owner to maintain that use; or (D) terminate or 80
deem abandoned a nonconforming use, building or structure unless the 81
property owner of such use, building or structure voluntarily 82
discontinues such use, building or structure and such discontinuance is 83
accompanied by an intent to not reestablish such use, building or 84
structure. The demolition or deconstruction of a nonconforming use, 85
building or structure shall not by itself be evidence of such property 86
owner's intent to not reestablish such use, building or structure; 87
(5) Prohibit the installation, in accordance with the provisions of 88
section 8-1bb, of temporary health care structures for use by mentally or 89
physically impaired persons if such structures comply with the 90
provisions of said section, unless the municipality opts out in 91
accordance with the provisions of subsection (j) of said section; 92
(6) Prohibit the operation in a residential zone of any cottage food 93
operation, as defined in section 21a-62b; 94
(7) Establish for any dwelling unit a minimum floor area that is 95
greater than the minimum floor area set forth in the applicable building, 96
housing or other code; 97
(8) Place a fixed numerical or percentage cap on the number of 98
dwelling units that constitute multifamily housing over four units, 99
middle housing or mixed-use development that may be permitted in the 100
municipality; 101
(9) Require [more than one parking space for each studio or one-102
bedroom dwelling unit or more than two parking spaces for each 103
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dwelling unit with two or more bedrooms, unless the municipality opts 104
out in accordance with the provisions of section 8-2p] a minimum 105
number of off-street motor vehicle parking spaces for any development; 106
or 107
(10) Be applied to deny any land use application, including for any 108
site plan approval, special permit, special exception or other zoning 109
approval, on the basis of (A) a district's character, unless such character 110
is expressly articulated in such regulations by clear and explicit physical 111
standards for site work and structures, or (B) the immutable 112
characteristics, source of income or income level of any applicant or end 113
user, other than age or disability whenever age-restricted or disability-114
restricted housing may be permitted. 115
Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 8-2o of the general statutes is repealed 116
and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2025): 117
(a) Any zoning regulations adopted pursuant to section 8-2, as 118
amended by this act, shall: 119
(1) Designate locations or zoning districts within the municipality in 120
which accessory apartments are allowed, provided at least one 121
accessory apartment shall be allowed as of right on each lot that contains 122
a single-family dwelling and no such accessory apartment shall be 123
required to be an affordable accessory apartment; 124
(2) Allow accessory apartments to be attached to or located within the 125
proposed or existing principal dwelling, or detached from the proposed 126
or existing principal dwelling and located on the same lot as such 127
dwelling; 128
(3) Set a maximum net floor area for an accessory apartment of not 129
less than thirty per cent of the net floor area of the principal dwelling, or 130
one thousand square feet, whichever is less, except that such regulations 131
may allow a larger net floor area for such apartments; 132
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(4) Require setbacks, lot size and building frontage less than or equal 133
to that which is required for the principal dwelling, and require lot 134
coverage greater than or equal to that which is required for the principal 135
dwelling; 136
(5) Provide for height, landscaping and architectural design 137
standards that do not exceed any such standards as they are applied to 138
single-family dwellings in the municipality; 139
(6) Be prohibited from requiring (A) a passageway between any such 140
accessory apartment and any such principal dwelling, (B) an exterior 141
door for any such accessory apartment, except as required by the 142
applicable building or fire code, (C) [any more than one parking space 143
for any such accessory apartment, or fees in lieu of parking otherwise 144
allowed by section 8-2c, (D)] a familial, marital or employment 145
relationship between occupants of the principal dwelling and accessory 146
apartment, [(E)] (D) a minimum age for occupants of the accessory 147
apartment, [(F)] (E) separate billing of utilities otherwise connected to, 148
or used by, the principal dwelling unit, or [(G)] (F) periodic renewals for 149
permits for such accessory apartments; and 150
(7) Be interpreted and enforced such that nothing in this section shall 151
be in derogation of (A) applicable building code requirements, (B) the 152
ability of a municipality to prohibit or limit the use of accessory 153
apartments for short-term rentals or vacation stays, or (C) other 154
requirements where a well or private sewerage system is being used, 155
provided approval for any such accessory apartment shall not be 156
unreasonably withheld. 157
Sec. 3. Sections 8-2c and 8-2p of the general statutes are repealed. 158
(Effective October 1, 2025) 159
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 8-2(c) and (d)
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Sec. 2 October 1, 2025 8-2o(a)
Sec. 3 October 1, 2025 Repealer section
Statement of Purpose:
To prohibit the imposition of mandatory minimum parking
requirements for any development in a municipality.
[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.]