(a) Any municipality or any licensed environmental professional employed or retained by a municipality may enter, without liability upon any property within such municipality for the purpose of performing an environmental site assessment or investigation on behalf of the municipality if: (1) The owner of such property cannot be located; (2) such property is encumbered by a lien for taxes due such municipality; (3) upon a filing of a notice of eminent domain; (4) the municipality's legislative body finds that such investigation is in the public interest to determine if the property is underutilized or should be included in any undertaking of development, redevelopment or remediation pursuant to this chapter or chapter 130, 132 or 581; or (5) any official of the municipality reasonably finds such investigation necessary to determine if such property presents a risk to the safety, health or welfare of the public or a risk to the environment. A Connecticut brownfield land bank or any licensed environmental professional employed or retained by such Connecticut brownfield land bank may enter, without liability, upon any property subject to a land banking agreement between such Connecticut brownfield land bank and the municipality in which such property is located for the purpose of performing an environmental site assessment or investigation on behalf of such Connecticut brownfield land bank if: (A) Such environmental site assessment or investigation is required under a land banking agreement between such municipality and such Connecticut brownfield land bank, and such municipality is otherwise authorized under this subsection to enter such property without liability, or (B) the property owner has entered into a voluntary agreement with such municipality or such land bank for the performance of an environmental site assessment or investigation. The municipality or, if applicable, the Connecticut brownfield land bank shall give at least forty-five days' notice of such entry before the first such entry by certified mail to the property owner's last-known address of record.
(b) A municipality or Connecticut brownfield land bank accessing or entering a property to perform an investigation pursuant to this section shall not be liable for preexisting conditions pursuant to section 22a-432, 22a-433, 22a-451 or 22a-452, or to the property owner or any third party, provided the municipality or Connecticut brownfield land bank (1) did not establish, cause or contribute to the discharge, spillage, uncontrolled loss, seepage or filtration of such hazardous substance, material, waste or pollution; (2) does not negligently or recklessly exacerbate the conditions; and (3) complies with reporting of significant environmental hazard requirements pursuant to section 22a-6u. To the extent that any conditions are negligently or recklessly exacerbated, the municipality or Connecticut brownfield land bank shall only be responsible for responding to contamination exacerbated by its activities.
(c) The owner of the property may object to such access and entry by the municipality or Connecticut brownfield land bank by filing an action in the Superior Court not later than thirty days after receipt of the notice provided pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, provided any objection be limited to the issue of whether access is necessary and only upon proof by the owner that the owner has (1) completed or is in the process of completing in a timely manner a comprehensive environmental site assessment or investigation report; (2) provided the party seeking access with a copy of the assessment or report or will do so not later than thirty days after the delivery of such assessment or report to the owner; and (3) paid any delinquent property taxes assessed against the property for which access is being sought.
(d) For purposes of this section, (1) “municipality” includes any (A) municipality, (B) municipal economic development agency or entity created or operating under chapter 130 or 132, (C) nonprofit economic development corporation formed to promote the common good, general welfare and economic development of a municipality that is funded, either directly or through in-kind services, in part by a municipality, or (D) nonstock corporation or limited liability company established and controlled by a municipality, municipal economic development agency or entity created or operating under chapter 130 or 132; and (2) “Connecticut brownfield land bank” has the same meaning as provided in section 32-760.
(P.A. 98-253, S. 12; P.A. 08-174, S. 6; P.A. 09-235, S. 6; P.A. 17-214, S. 8.)
History: P.A. 08-174 designated existing provisions as Subsec. (a) and amended same to add provisions re municipalities, insert “to any person other than the Commissioner of Environmental Protection” provision, add Subdiv. (4) re investigations in the public interest and Subdiv. (5) re investigations to determine risk to the public or environment and make technical changes, added Subsec. (b) re liability pursuant to Sec. 22a-432 and added Subsec. (c) re property owner's right to object to access and entry, effective June 13, 2008; P.A. 09-235 amended Subsec. (a) to delete “to any person other than the Commissioner of Environmental Protection”, amended Subsec. (b) to delete provision re protection from liability pursuant to Sec. 22a-432 except for negligent or reckless investigations and add provisions re protection from liability for preexisting conditions pursuant to Sec. 22a-432, 22a-433, 22a-451 or 22a-452, amended Subsec. (c) to add provisions limiting objection to issue of whether access is necessary and delete provision re owner affirmatively representing it is diligently investigating site and any taxes will be paid, and added Subsec. (d) defining “municipality”, effective July 9, 2009; P.A. 17-214 amended Subsec (a) by adding provisions re entry on property by Connecticut brownfield land banks and licensed environmental professionals employed by land banks, amended Subsecs. (b) and (c) by adding “or Connecticut brownfield land bank”, and amended Subsec. (d) by designating existing provision defining “municipality” as Subdiv. (1), adding Subpara. (A) to (D) designators and adding Subdiv. (2) defining “Connecticut brownfield land bank”, effective July 1, 2017.