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General Assembly Substitute Bill No. 7148
January Session, 2025
AN ACT CONCERNING ACCESSORY COMMERCIAL UNITS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. Subsection (b) of section 8-1a of the general statutes is 1
repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 2
1, 2025): 3
(b) As used in this chapter: 4
(1) "Accessory apartment" means a separate dwelling unit that (A) is 5
located on the same lot as a principal dwelling unit of greater square 6
footage, (B) has cooking facilities, and (C) complies with or is otherwise 7
exempt from any applicable building code, fire code and health and 8
safety regulations; 9
(2) "Accessory commercial unit" means a structure, or portion thereof, 10
which is occupied, is designed to be occupied or is rented, leased or 11
hired out to be occupied, for commercial use, provided such use is 12
accessory to an existing residential use on the same lot; 13
[(2)] (3) "Affordable accessory apartment" means an accessory 14
apartment that is subject to binding recorded deeds which contain 15
covenants or restrictions that require such accessory apartment be sold 16
or rented at, or below, prices that will preserve the unit as housing for 17 Substitute Bill No. 7148
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which, for a period of not less than ten years, persons and families pay 18
thirty per cent or less of income, where such income is less than or equal 19
to eighty per cent of the median income; 20
[(3)] (4) "As of right" or "as-of-right" means able to be approved in 21
accordance with the terms of a zoning regulation or regulations and 22
without requiring that a public hearing be held, a variance, special 23
permit or special exception be granted or some other discretionary 24
zoning action be taken, other than a determination that a site plan is in 25
conformance with applicable zoning regulations; 26
[(4)] (5) "Cottage cluster" means a grouping of at least four detached 27
housing units, or live work units, per acre that are located around a 28
common open area; 29
[(5)] (6) "Live work unit" means a building or a space within a 30
building used for both commercial and residential purposes by an 31
individual residing within such building or space; 32
[(6)] (7) "Middle housing" means duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, 33
cottage clusters and townhouses; 34
[(7)] (8) "Mixed-use development" means a development containing 35
both residential and nonresidential uses in any single building; and 36
[(8)] (9) "Townhouse" means a residential building constructed in a 37
grouping of three or more attached units, each of which shares at least 38
one common wall with an adjacent unit and has exterior walls on at least 39
two sides. 40
Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) (a) Any zoning regulations 41
adopted pursuant to section 8-2 of the general statutes shall: 42
(1) Designate areas or zoning districts within not less than thirty-43
three per cent of the total land area zoned for residential use in the 44
municipality as areas or districts in which not less than one accessory 45
commercial unit shall be allowed per lot as of right; 46 Substitute Bill No. 7148
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(2) Allow one or more accessory commercial units to be constructed 47
(A) within the building envelope of a residential property, as defined in 48
section 7-148hh of the general statutes, or an existing detached structure 49
accessory to such residential property, or (B) on a lot that contains a 50
residential property, whether such accessory commercial unit is 51
attached to or detached from such property. An accessory commercial 52
unit constructed pursuant to subparagraph (B) of this subdivision shall 53
be exempt from any setback or lot coverage restriction adopted by the 54
municipality; 55
(3) Prohibit an accessory commercial unit from containing a drive-56
through facility or being used to sell takeaway alcoholic beverages, 57
tobacco products, cannabis products or smoking paraphernalia; 58
(4) Not impose height, landscaping or architectural design standards 59
concerning accessory commercial units that exceed any such standards 60
applicable to a single-family dwelling in the municipality; 61
(5) Not restrict the (A) potential commercial or light industrial uses 62
of an accessory commercial unit, (B) ability of members of the public to 63
visit any business operating in an accessory commercial unit, or (C) 64
hours of operation of a business using an accessory commercial unit to 65
less than ten hours per day; 66
(6) Not restrict the net floor area of an accessory commercial unit to 67
less than one thousand square feet; 68
(7) Not impose any noise restrictions or building code requirements 69
concerning the (A) construction of an accessory commercial unit that 70
exceed the standards or requirements applicable to other commercial 71
uses in the municipality, or (B) use of an accessory commercial unit that 72
exceed the standards or requirements applicable to residential uses in 73
the municipality; 74
(8) Not require (A) a passageway between any accessory commercial 75
unit and any residential property, (B) a familial, marital or employment 76
relationship between occupants of the residential property and 77 Substitute Bill No. 7148
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accessory commercial unit, (C) separate billing of utilities otherwise 78
connected to, or used by, the residential property and the accessory 79
dwelling unit, (D) periodic renewals for permits for such accessory 80
commercial unit, (E) traffic or parking studies concerning the proposed 81
use for an accessory commercial unit, or (F) a minimum number of off-82
street motor vehicle parking spaces in excess of the those required for 83
the existing residential use; and 84
(9) Be interpreted and enforced such that nothing in this section shall 85
be in derogation of (A) applicable building code requirements, or (B) 86
other requirements where a well or private sewerage system is being 87
used, provided approval for any such accessory commercial unit shall 88
not be unreasonably withheld. 89
(b) The as-of-right permit application and review process for 90
approval of an accessory commercial unit shall require that a decision 91
on any such application be rendered not later than sixty-five days after 92
receipt of such application by the applicable zoning commission, except 93
that an applicant may consent to one or more extensions of not more 94
than an additional sixty-five days or may withdraw such application. 95
(c) A municipality shall not (1) condition the approval of an accessory 96
commercial unit on the correction of a nonconforming use, structure or 97
lot, or (2) require the installation of fire sprinklers in an accessory 98
commercial unit if such sprinklers are not required for the residential 99
property located on the same lot or otherwise required by the fire code. 100
(d) A municipality, special district or sewer or water authority shall 101
not (1) consider an accessory commercial unit to be a new use for the 102
purposes of calculating connection fees or capacity charges for utilities, 103
including sewer and water service, unless such accessory commercial 104
unit was constructed with a new single-family dwelling on the same lot, 105
or (2) require the installation of a new or separate utility connection 106
directly to an accessory commercial unit or impose a related connection 107
fee or capacity charge. 108
(e) If a municipality fails to adopt new regulations or amend existing 109 Substitute Bill No. 7148
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regulations by October 1, 2026, for the purpose of complying with the 110
provisions of subsections (a) to (d), inclusive, of this section, any 111
noncompliant regulations shall be void and such municipality shall 112
approve or deny applications for accessory commercial units in all zones 113
that allow residential uses in accordance with the requirements set forth 114
in the provisions of subsections (a) to (d), inclusive, of this section until 115
such municipality adopts or amends such noncompliant regulation to 116
comply with said subsections. No municipality shall impose additional 117
standards beyond those set forth in subsections (a) to (d), inclusive, of 118
this section on accessory commercial units. 119
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 8-1a(b)
Sec. 2 October 1, 2025 New section
Statement of Legislative Commissioners:
In Section 2(a)(5) and Section 2(a)(7), "the" was added before "(A)" and
"the" was deleted after each subparagraph designator in said
subdivisions for consistency with standard drafting conventions, in
Section 2(a)(8)(C), "and the accessory dwelling unit" was added after
"property" for clarity, and in Section 2(e), "A municipality may not" was
changed to "No municipality shall" for consistency with standard
drafting conventions.
PD Joint Favorable Subst.