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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1444
January Session, 2025
LCO No. 5659
Referred to Committee on PLANNING AND
DEVELOPMENT
Introduced by:
(PD)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE CONVERSION OF COMMERCIAL REAL
PROPERTY FOR RESIDENTIAL USE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2025) (a) As used in this section: 1
(1) "As of right" has the same meaning as provided in section 8-1a of 2
the general statutes; 3
(2) "Commercial building" means a structure designed or used 4
primarily for nonresidential purposes, including, but not limited to, 5
hotels, retail space and office space. "Commercial building" does not 6
include an industrial building; 7
(3) "Dwelling unit" has the same meaning as provided in section 47a-8
1 of the general statutes; 9
(4) "Industrial building" means a structure that is used primarily for 10
industrial activity and is generally not open to the public, including, but 11
not limited to, warehouses, factories and storage facilities; and 12 Raised Bill No. 1444
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(5) "Residential development" means a structure or structures, or a 13
portion of a structure, that contains one or more dwelling units. 14
(b) Any zoning regulations adopted pursuant to section 8-2 of the 15
general statutes shall allow the conversion or partial conversion of any 16
commercial building into a residential development as of right. 17
(c) A municipality shall not condition the approval of the conversion 18
or partial conversion of a commercial building into a residential 19
development on the correction of a nonconforming use, structure or lot. 20
(d) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted or enforced to exempt 21
the conversion or partial conversion of a commercial building into a 22
residential development from the requirements of any applicable 23
building code, fire safety code or fire prevention code. No municipality 24
shall unreasonably delay any inspection required in connection with 25
such conversion or partial conversion. 26
(e) The as-of-right permit application and review process for 27
approval of the conversion or partial conversion of a commercial 28
building into a residential development shall require that a decision on 29
any such application be rendered not later than sixty-five days after 30
receipt of such application by the applicable zoning commission, except 31
that an applicant may consent to one or more extensions of not more 32
than an additional sixty-five days or may withdraw such application. 33
(f) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 12-62 of the general 34
statutes, no municipality shall subject a commercial building that has 35
been converted or partially converted under this section to a 36
revaluation, as defined in section 12-62 of the general statutes, for a 37
period of three years from the date of issuance of a certificate of 38
occupancy in connection with such conversion or partial conversion. 39
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2025 New section Raised Bill No. 1444
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PD Joint Favorable