Sec. 47-301. Community land trust. Purposes. Powers.
Sec. 47-301. Community land trust. Purposes. Powers. (a) A community land
trust shall have as one of its purposes the holding of land and the leasing of such land
for the purpose of preserving the long-term eligibility and accessibility of housing predominantly for very low income, low income and moderate income persons and families.
Aggregate family income shall be determined at the time the lessee enters into a ground
lease with the lessor. A community land trust shall have, in addition to all powers granted
to it under chapter 602, the power to buy and sell land, to mortgage and otherwise
encumber land and to enter into renewable or self-extending ground leases with an initial
term of up to ninety-nine years.
(b) The bylaws of a community land trust shall provide that: (1) The trust is an
organization open to members of the general public who support the organization's
goals and purposes; (2) no more than thirty per cent of the members of the organization
may be persons who reside outside of the municipality or municipalities in which the
community land trust operates; (3) the membership shall elect at least fifty-one per cent
of the governing board of the community land trust; (4) at least twenty-five per cent but
no more than forty per cent of the governing board shall be lessees, representatives
elected by lessees or residents of eligible housing located on land owned by the community land trust, provided prior to the organization having at least five units of housing,
the governing board shall appoint persons to represent the lessees; and (5) the remaining
members of the governing board, if any, may be appointed by elected public officials
to the extent set forth in the bylaws.
(c) A community land trust shall hold title to land and lease such land to very low
income, low income and moderate income persons and families, limited equity cooperatives or other corporations, provided the terms of any such ground lease shall give the
community land trust the first option to purchase any building or improvement on such
land, or any condominium or cooperative unit therein, at a limited equity price set forth
in the ground lease.
(d) A community land trust may charge a lease fee to the lessee. Such fee shall be
determined by the community land trust and may include property taxes and any other
assessments made on the land, an administrative fee and a land use fee. The method of
determining the lease fee shall be set forth in the ground lease. Nothing in this section
shall prohibit a state, local or other funding agency or a lender from placing in escrow
all or part of the lease fee.
(P.A. 90-203, S. 2; P.A. 96-256, S. 206, 209.)
History: P.A. 96-256 amended Subsec. (a) to replace reference to Ch. 600 with Ch. 602, effective January 1, 1997.
See Sec. 8-214d re state financial assistance for establishing a community land trust.