2019 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 22a - Environmental Protection
Chapter 446i - Water Resources. Invasive Plants
Section 22a-371 - Request for additional information. Notice of completed application. Notice of hearing. Waiver of hearing.

(a) Within one hundred eighty days of receipt of an application for a permit, the commissioner shall determine if there is any additional information that he deems necessary to carry out the purposes of sections 22a-365 to 22a-378, inclusive. The applicant shall provide such information to the commissioner upon request.

(b) If the applicant does not furnish the requested information, the commissioner shall publish notice of his tentative determination on the application in accordance with section 22a-6h and shall hold or waive a public hearing in accordance with the provisions of subsection (f) of this section.

(c) If the commissioner finds that an application is complete, he shall notify the applicant by electronic means or certified mail, return receipt requested. The commissioner shall also notify the applicant of the time, date and location of any public hearing to be held on the application.

(d) Upon notifying the applicant in accordance with subsection (c) of this section that the application is complete, the commissioner shall immediately provide, by electronic means, notice of the application and a concise description of the proposed diversion to the Governor, the Attorney General, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the president pro tempore of the Senate, the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, the Commissioners of Public Health and Economic and Community Development, the chairperson of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, the chief executive officer and chairmen of the conservation commission and wetlands agency of the municipality or municipalities in which the proposed diversion will take place or have effect, and any person who has requested notice of such activities.

(e) As used in this section, “municipality” means a city, town or borough of the state.

(f) The commissioner shall hold a public hearing before approving or denying an application, except that, when the commissioner determines that the proposed diversion (1) is necessary, (2) will not significantly affect long-range water resource management or the environment, and (3) will not impair proper management and use of the water resources of the state, he may waive the requirement for a hearing after publishing notice of his tentative decision regarding the application and of his intent to waive the requirement for a hearing in a newspaper having general circulation in the area where the proposed diversion will take place or have effect; provided the commissioner shall hold a hearing upon receipt, within thirty days after such notice is published or mailed, of a petition signed by at least twenty-five persons. If a hearing is to be held, the commissioner, at the applicant's expense, shall (A) cause notice of the time, date and location of the commencement of the hearing, a concise description of the proposed diversion, and the commissioner's tentative determination regarding the application to be published not less than thirty days prior to the commencement of the hearing in a newspaper having a general circulation in the area where the proposed diversion will take place or have effect, and (B) provide the same notice to the officials listed in subsection (d) of this section not less than thirty days prior to the commencement of the hearing.

(P.A. 82-402, S. 7, 16; P.A. 84-29, S. 1, 2; 84-546, S. 75, 173; P.A. 85-243, S. 1; P.A. 92-162, S. 10, 25; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; 93-428, S. 6, 39; P.A. 95-94, S. 1; 95-250, S. 1; 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; P.A. 96-211, S. 1, 5, 6; P.A. 04-151, S. 4; P.A. 10-32, S. 163; P.A. 11-80, S. 70; P.A. 13-209, S. 7.)

History: P.A. 84-29 added Subsec. (g) authorizing the commissioner to waive the public hearing requirement for intrabasin transfers; P.A. 84-546 made technical change in Subsec. (e); P.A. 85-243 amended Subsec. (g) to apply public hearing waiver to cases which do not involve water transfers between regional rather than subregional drainage basins; P.A. 92-162 amended Subsec. (c) to revise some language for clarity and to delete requirement that hearings on applications under this section be held within 120 days of notification by the commissioner of a complete application, amended Subsec. (d) to modify the notice requirements for certain officials and to add conservation commissions, wetlands agencies and interested persons as recipients of notice under this section, deleted former Subsecs. (e) and (g), relettering Subsec. (f) accordingly and added new Subsec. (f) re notice and hearing requirements for approval of permits under this section; P.A. 93-381 replaced commissioner of health services with commissioner of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 93-428 amended Subsec. (f) to specify that notice include commissioner's tentative decision in cases where he intends to waive hearing, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-94 amended Subsec. (a) to change from 30 to 120 the number of days the commissioner has to determine if additional information is needed and to give the applicant the option of asking the application to be deemed complete as is rather than submit more information and amended Subsec. (b) to require the commissioner to publish notice and hold or waive a public hearing, eliminating the requirement that he return the application; P.A. 95-250 and P.A. 96-211 replaced Commissioner and Department of Economic Development with Commissioner and Department of Economic and Community Development; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 04-151 amended Subsec. (a) to change determination deadline from 120 days to 180 days and to remove provision re requesting that application be deemed complete and amended Subsec. (f) to change publication and notice requirements from 20 days to 30 days prior to commencement of hearing and to remove provision re publication twice at intervals of not less than 2 days, effective May 21, 2004; P.A. 10-32 made a technical change in Subsec. (d), effective May 10, 2010; P.A. 11-80 amended Subsec. (d) by changing “Public Utilities Control Authority” to “Public Utilities Regulatory Authority”, effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 13-209 amended Subsecs. (c) and (d) by authorizing commissioner to provide notification by electronic means.

Cited. 28 CA 674. Because commissioner did not give plaintiff an opportunity to remedy application's deficiencies or to request that application be deemed complete as submitted and have those deficiencies examined in the forum of a public hearing, notice of rejection was a final decision in a contested case and meets requirements for appeal pursuant to Sec. 4-183, despite absence of a public hearing. 71 CA 395.