Scenic Roads
SCENIC ROADS
ORDINANCE RE: SCENIC ROADS
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE LEGAL VOTERS OF THE TOWN OF STONINGTON IN LAWFUL TOWN MEETING DULY ASSEMBLED THAT THE FOLLOWING ORDINANCE BE ESTABLISHED BY THE TOWN OF STONINGTON:
SCENIC ROADS
Section 1.
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 7-149a of the Connecticut General Statutes, the Planning and Zoning Commission is empowered as the agency to designate town highways or portions of Town highways as scenic roads. No state highway or portion thereof may be designated as a scenic road under this ordinance.
Section 2.
Any individual or group within the Town of Stonington may, by petition to the Planning and Zoning Commission, request designation of a road as a Scenic Road. The Planning and Zoning Commission shall consider designating as a Scenic Road only those town roads which are free of intensive commercial development and intensive vehicular traffic and which meet at least one of the following criteria:
1. The traveled portion is no more than twenty (20) feet in width.
2. It is bordered by mature trees or stone walls.
3. It parallels or crosses over brooks, streams, lakes, ponds.
4. It offers scenic views.
5. It blends naturally into the surrounding terrain.
6. It is unpaved.
Section 3.
a) When a highway is to be considered for designation as a Scenic Road, the Planning and Zoning Commission shall schedule a public hearing on the proposal. Hearing notices and deadlines shall be in accordance with the provisions of Sections 8-26d and 8-26e of the Connecticut General Statutes. The Planning and Zoning Commission shall notify the owners of lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of a highway proposed for designation and scheduled for public hearing; and shall notify the Board of Selectmen, the Conservation Commission, the Board of Police Commissioners and the Superintendent of Highways for the purpose of review and comments at least forty (40) days prior to the public hearing. Each agency shall study such proposal for scenic road designation and shall submit its findings and recommendations to the Planning and Zoning Commission at least seven (7) days before the hearing. If such report of an agency is not submitted at least seven (7) days before the hearing, it shall be presumed that such agency approves of the proposal.
b) Following the public hearing, the Planning and Zoning Commission shall vote on the proposed designation. No highway or portion of a highway may be designated as a Scenic Road under this section unless the owners of a majority of lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of the highway agree to the designation by filing a written statement of approval with the Town Clerk of the Town of Stonington. The designation shall become effective upon such date as the Planning and Zoning Commission shall establish.
c) Thescenic road designation may be rescinded by the Planning and Zoning Commission, using the same procedures and having the written concurrence of the owners of a majority of lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of the highway.
d) Any person aggrieved by a designation of a highway or portion of a highway as a scenic road pursuant to this section by the Planning and Zoning Commission may appeal such designation in the manner and utilizing the same standards of review provided for appeals from the decisions of Planning and Zoning Commission under Section 8-28, of the Connecticut General Statutes.
e) Each designated Scenic Road may be identified by the posting of a sign at both ends of the road. Such sign shall read:
SCENIC ROAD
Posted Speed Limit Strictly Enforced
Section 4.
a) No road which has been designated as a scenic road under this ordinance shall be altered or improved, including but not limited to, widening of the right-of-way or of the traveled portion of the highway, paving, changes of grade, straightening, removal of stone walls and removal of mature trees, except for good cause determined by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The Planning and Zoning Commission shall state the reasons for such future alterations and improvements in its minutes.
b) Not withstanding the language of Section 4(a) above any highway or portion of any highway designated as a scenic road shall be maintained by the Town, in good and sufficient repair and in passable condition. Minor road improvements for drainage and for safety purposes that do not affect the scenic quality of the road can be made at the discretion of the Superintendent of Highways.
Nothing in thissection shall be deemed to prohibit a person owning or occupying land abutting a scenic road from maintaining and repairing the land which abuts the scenic road if the maintenance or repair occurs on land not within the right-of-way, paved or unpaved, of the scenic road.
This ordinanceshall become effective fifteen (15) days after publication in a newspaper having a circulation within the Town.
Adopted February 26, 1990
Effective March 23, 1990