(a) Any of the towns of Berlin, Brookfield, Chester, Deep River, East Haddam, Essex, Glastonbury, Granby, Haddam, Kent, Lyme, Newtown, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Redding, Stafford, Somers, Warren, Washington or Willington may, acting through its legislative body, authorize its inland wetlands agency, as defined in section 22a-38, to adopt such regulations, consistent with the regulations adopted by the commissioner pursuant to section 23-65j, as are necessary to protect the forest land within its jurisdiction, except for state-owned forest land managed by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. For purposes of this section, the inland wetlands agency shall serve as the sole municipal agent for regulation of forest practices. Any municipality named in this subsection shall have one year from the effective date of regulations adopted by the commissioner for the regulation of forest practices to comply with the terms of this section. No municipality which regulates forest practices pursuant to the authority of this section shall reject any application without having such rejection reviewed by a forester certified by the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection retained by the agency for that purpose. Upon written request of the applicant, a forester certified by the department shall review and make recommendations to the inland wetlands agency on any application to conduct forest practices. The costs associated with any review provided for in this section shall be borne by the applicant provided in no event shall the total of fees and costs paid by the applicant in connection with an application to conduct forest practices exceed the standard fee which would be charged by the department for a similar application.

(b) Any municipality not named in subsection (a) of this section which has, as of January 1, 1998, a program of regulation for forest practices may apply to the commissioner for approval to administer a municipal program of regulation in accordance with the provisions of this section. The commissioner may approve such program if he finds that such program was in existence on January 1, 1998, and was at that time in compliance with the standards provided by the Connecticut Resource Conservation and Development Forestry Committee.

(c) At least one member or staff member of the inland wetlands agency shall complete a training program on forest practices which shall be developed by the commissioner. The commissioner shall annually make such program available to one person from each town without cost to that person or the town. Each inland wetlands agency authorized to regulate forest practices shall present a summary of the training program to the members of the agency at least once annually. Failure to have the training required under this subsection shall not affect the validity of any action of the agency.

(d) Any municipal ordinance or regulation concerning forest practices, adopted in accordance with subsection (a) of this section, shall not be effective unless such ordinance or regulation has been submitted to the commissioner for approval, and the commissioner has approved said ordinance or regulation as consistent with the purposes of sections 23-65f to 23-65o, inclusive, and regulations adopted thereunder and further finds that the municipality submitting such regulations had in effect on January 1, 1998, a program of regulation for forest practices which was in compliance with the standards provided by the Connecticut Resource Conservation and Development Forestry Committee. No municipal ordinance or regulation governing commercial forest practices which is in effect on the effective date of regulations adopted pursuant to section 23-65j shall be valid after the expiration of one year following the effective date of such department regulations unless such ordinance or regulation has been submitted to the commissioner for approval, and the commissioner has approved such ordinance or regulation as consistent with the purposes of sections 23-65f to 23-65o, inclusive, and regulations adopted thereunder. The commissioner shall provide written notification to the municipality of the approval of a municipal ordinance or regulation or the reasons such ordinance or regulation is not approved. Such written notification shall be issued within sixty days of receipt by the commissioner of the ordinance or regulation adopted by the municipality. The commissioner may require modifications to such municipal ordinances or regulations within one hundred eighty days of any modifications to regulations adopted by the commissioner under section 23-65j.

(e) Any form used by a municipality for the registration and approval of a forest practice shall be consistent with forms approved by the commissioner.

(f) An inland wetlands agency authorized under subsection (a) or (b) of this section may require a reasonable filing fee to be deposited with the agency for any application to conduct forest practices. The amount of such fee shall be sufficient to cover the reasonable cost of reviewing and acting on applications, including, but not limited to, the cost of certified mailings, publications of notices and decisions and monitoring compliance with registration conditions or agency orders provided such fee is no greater than the comparable fee charged by the commissioner.

(g) Each inland wetlands agency authorized to regulate forest practices shall annually report to the commissioner information on registrations, orders and other actions of such agency on a form furnished by the commissioner. Such information shall include, but not be limited to, the following: (1) Registrations issued; (2) registrations denied; and (3) enforcement notices and orders.

(h) The commissioner shall regulate forest practices in accordance with the provisions of section 23-65j within a municipality which does not regulate forest practices in accordance with this section.

(i) On or after the effective date of the municipal regulations adopted under subsection (a) of this section, no forest practice shall be conducted upon any forest land within the municipality except in accordance with such regulations.

(j) If a forest practice is being conducted on a parcel of real property which extends into two or more contiguous towns, the commissioner shall have sole jurisdiction over such practice unless each such town has a program of regulation approved under this section. If the commissioner determines that there is any conflict between such programs, the state regulations shall govern such practice.

(P.A. 91-335, S. 6; P.A. 98-228, S. 1; P.A. 11-80, S. 1.)

History: P.A. 98-228 added Subsecs. (a) to (j), inclusive, designating former section as Subsec. (d), to provide for regulation of forest practices by certain municipalities and to provide for procedures for approval of such municipal regulation, training of municipal officials, coordination among municipalities and fees; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Department of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Department of Energy and Environmental Protection” in Subsec. (a), effective July 1, 2011.