Sec. 23-75. Land acquisition. Criteria.
Sec. 23-75. Land acquisition. Criteria. (a) The Commissioner of Environmental
Protection shall acquire land by purchase, gift or devise for the purposes set forth in
section 23-74. The title to any land acquired pursuant to sections 23-73 to 23-79, inclusive, shall be vested in the state. In determining whether sites shall be acquired, the
department shall consider whether the site is: (1) Identified as having high priority
recreation, forestry, fishery, wildlife or conservation value and as being consistent with
the state comprehensive plan for outdoor recreation and the state plan of conservation
and development; (2) a prime natural feature of the Connecticut landscape, such as a
major river, its tributaries and watershed, mountainous territory, an inland or coastal
wetland, a significant littoral or estuarine or aquatic site or any other important geologic
feature; (3) habitat for native plant or animal species listed as threatened or endangered
or of special concern in the data base or pursuant to the program established under
section 26-305, particularly areas identified as essential habitat for such species; (4) a
relatively undisturbed outstanding example of a native ecological community which is
now uncommon; or (5) threatened with conversion to incompatible uses or contains
sacred sites or archaeological sites of state or national importance. In acquiring a site
that has been identified as having a high priority recreation value, the department shall
give priority to sites near population centers.
(b) No site shall be acquired which has not been evaluated by the department,
through the data base, to determine if threatened or endangered species or species of
special concern inhabit or use the site or to determine if the site is of special ecologic
quality or has other outstanding natural values as a community of living things.
(c) No site which is to be acquired with the assistance of a municipal cooperator
shall be acquired unless the department and such cooperator enter into a written
agreement which specifies the recreational activities which will not be allowed on such
site. Such agreement may be modified at any time by mutual consent of the municipal
cooperator and the department.
(P.A. 86-406, S. 3, 15; P.A. 87-448, S. 1, 6; P.A. 89-224, S. 14, 22; 89-368, S. 14; P.A. 91-378, S. 7.)
History: P.A. 87-448 amended Subsecs. (a) and (b) to authorize the commissioner to consider species of special concern
in decisions on acquisition and amended Subsec. (a) to require that priority be given to acquisition of sites near population
centers; P.A. 89-224 added reference to the program established under Sec. 26-305 in Subsec. (a)(3); P.A. 89-368 Subsec.
(a)(5) to make the presence of a sacred or archaeological site a factor that may be considered by the commissioner in
acquisition of a site; P.A. 91-378 added a new Subsec. (c) concerning certain agreements between the department and
municipal cooperators; (Revisor's note: In 1999 a reference to Sec. 23-80 was changed editorially by the Revisors to Sec.
23-79, since Sec. 23-80 was repealed by P.A. 98-157).