Sec. 7-131u. Charter Oak state parks and forests program: Purposes; criteria. Charter Oak state parks and forests account.
Sec. 7-131u. Charter Oak state parks and forests program: Purposes; criteria.
Charter Oak state parks and forests account. (a) There is established a Charter Oak
state parks and forests account, within the General Fund, which shall be a separate,
nonlapsing account. The account shall consist of any funds required or allowed by law
to be deposited into the account including, but not limited to, funds from the Charter
Oak open space trust account established pursuant to section 7-131s, gifts or donations
received for the purposes of this section. Investment earnings credited to the assets of
the account shall become part of the assets of the account. Any balance remaining in
the account at the end of any fiscal year shall be carried forward in the account for the
fiscal year next succeeding. Payments from the account shall be made upon authorization
by the Commissioner of Environmental Protection. Neither the proceeds of any general
obligation bonds of the state nor the investment earnings of any such proceeds shall be
deposited in the account. Funds in the state parks and forests account shall be expended
to acquire land as set forth in subsection (b) of this section.
(b) There is established the Charter Oak state parks and forests program to enable
the state to acquire land for open space and watershed protection. All land acquired by
the state under this program shall be preserved in perpetuity predominantly in its natural
scenic and open condition for the protection of natural resources while allowing for
recreation consistent with such protection as specified in subsection (b) of section 7-131d.
(c) When ranking lands to be acquired under the Charter Oak state parks and forests
program, the Commissioner of Environmental Protection shall give priority first to open
space land to be permanently preserved that is located in municipalities with population
densities of at least one thousand five hundred persons per square mile, and second to
open space land to be permanently preserved that is owned by an electric distribution
company or electric supplier, as defined in section 16-1, and to open space land to be
permanently preserved that is designated as class I, class II or class III land, as defined
in section 25-37c.
(d) The Charter Oak state parks and forests program shall expire when the state and
municipal open space goal is achieved as provided in subsection (b) of section 23-8.
Any moneys remaining in the Charter Oak open space grant program account at the
time the program expires shall revert to the recreation and natural heritage trust program
established under section 23-74.
(P.A. 00-203, S. 5, 11.)
History: P.A. 00-203 effective July 1, 2000.