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PA06-80 exempts planning commissions and combined planning and zoning
commissions from the requirement to publish a newspaper notice for any public
hearing the commission holds on proposals they initiate including adopting or
amending zoning and subdivision regulations, zoning map, and plan of
development. Other public hearings are covered by Sec.8-7d(a). It also requires
planning, zoning, and wetland commissions to establish a "Public Notice
Registry" by October 1, 2006 for such proposals.
To comply, municipalities can notify landowners, electors, and nonprofit
organizations by placing a notation on the town's website, in a town wide
newspaper, or adding a notice in an annual tax bill. The notice of this registry
should be clear on which matters notice will be given, and the time period
before expiration (3 years). After being registered for three years, the party
must ask the commission to reenter its name and address if it wants to remain in
the registry for another three-year period. The act requires the commission to
notify registered parties by regular or electronic mail at least seven days
before it holds a public hearing on a proposal it initiates, if feasible.
Also, a municipality requiring "additional notice" for public hearings to
abutting properties beyond what is required currently in the statutes [Sec. 8-7
d( a)] must revise its regulations by October 1, 2006, to be consistent with the
new statute. The new act limits extra notice to mailing to adjacent owners or
posting a sign on the land subject to the hearing, or both. Notice to occupants
of adjacent land is not permissible. Proof of mailing is by certificate of
mailing and identifying adjacent owners by property tax maps of last completed
grand lists.
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