1. (a) The Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection may make grants under the open space and watershed land acquisition program to:

   1. (1) Municipalities for acquisition of land for open space under subdivisions (1) to (6), inclusive, of subsection (b) of section 7-131d in an amount not to exceed sixty-five per cent of the fair market value of a parcel of land or interest in land proposed to be acquired; (2) municipalities for acquisition of land for class I and class II water supply protection under subdivision (5) of subsection (b) of said section 7-131d, in an amount not to exceed sixty-five per cent of such value; (3) nonprofit land conservation organizations for acquisition of land for open space or watershed protection under subdivisions (1) to (6), inclusive, of subsection (b) of said section 7-131d, in an amount not to exceed sixty-five per cent of such value; (4) water companies for acquisition of land under subdivision (7) of subsection (b) of said section 7-131d, in an amount not to exceed sixty-five per cent of such value provided if such a company proposes in a grant application that it intends to allow access to such land for recreational uses, such company shall seek approval of the Commissioner of Public Health for such access; and (5) distressed municipalities, as defined in section 32-9p or targeted investment communities, as defined in section 32-222, municipalities containing one or more environmental justice communities, as defined in section 22a-20a, or, with the approval of the chief elected official or governing legislative body of such a municipality or community, to a nonprofit land conservation organization or water company, for acquisition of land within that municipality or community, for open space under subdivisions (1) to (6), inclusive, of subsection (b) of said section 7-131d, in an amount not to exceed seventy-five per cent of such value or for performance of work in the restoration, enhancement or protection of resources in an amount not to exceed fifty per cent of the cost of such work. Applicants for grants under the program shall provide a copy of the application to the chairperson of the review board established under section 7-131e. The board shall provide comments to the commissioner on pending applications as it deems necessary.

2. (b) For purposes of this subsection, the fair market value of land or interest in land shall be determined by one or more appraisals satisfactory to the commissioner and shall not include incidental costs, including, but not limited to, surveying, development or closing costs. The commissioner may consider a portion of the fair market value of a donation of land by an entity receiving a grant as a portion of the matching funds required under this subsection. A grantee may use funds made available by the state, pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, and the federal government to fund not more than ninety per cent of the fair market value of any project funded under the program, except the commissioner may authorize a grantee to use such state funds provided pursuant to subsection (a) of this section and any funds made available by the federal government to fund one hundred per cent of the fair market value of any project funded under said program if the commissioner determines that any of the following conditions exist:

   1. (1) The grantee committed or expended significant resources, including, but not limited to, payment of such incidental costs, toward the acquisition and preservation in perpetuity of such land; (2) that the grantee committed or expended significant resources for the care, maintenance or preservation of such land that was consistent with the intent of the open space and watershed land acquisition program, as described in section 7-131d; (3) that such project will provide a significant recreational opportunity or natural resource protection for the state and is consistent with:

      1. (A) The criteria of subsections (b) and (c) of section 7-131d; (B) the additional considerations set forth in subsection (a) of section 7-131e; and (C) any written guidelines developed by the commissioner pursuant to said subsection; or (4) that such project is located in an area of the state with a limited amount of land available for such recreational opportunity or natural resource protection and is consistent with: (A) The criteria of subsections (b) and (c) of section 7-131d; (B) the additional considerations set forth in subsection (a) of section 7-131e, except equitable geographic distribution of such grants; and (C) any written guidelines developed by the commissioner pursuant to said subsection.

3. (c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision (3) of subsection (c) of section 7-131d, any land that is the subject of the execution or recording of a conservation easement or restriction that resulted from a federally funded land conservation program, municipal conservation grant program or a private conservation grant program, prior to the recording of a permanent conservation easement described in subsection (e) of section 7-131d, shall not be construed to constitute land that has already been committed for public use, provided:

   1. (1) Such prior conservation easement or restriction is executed after the execution of the grant agreement for a grant to preserve such land under the provisions of this section, (2) at the time of the recording of the permanent conservation easement required pursuant to subsection (e) of section 7-131d, any nonfederal holder of any such prior easement subordinates such holder's interests in the land to the interests of the state, (3) such other federal funds, municipal grant funds or private grant funds are used as matching funds for a grant issued under this section, and (4) the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection determines, based on all pertinent circumstances, that the conveyance of such other conservation easement or restriction, in combination with the acquisition of the state's interest under this section, constitutes one concurrent acquisition of property or interests therein.
4. (d) To the extent there is a balance of bonds authorized but not allocated by the State Bond Commission on or after July 1, 1998, pursuant to any bond act for the purposes of (1) the recreation and natural heritage trust program established under sections 23-73 to 23-79, inclusive, and (2) the municipal open space grant program established under sections 7-131c to 7-131g, inclusive, the State Bond Commission shall authorize the issuance of such balance only for the purposes described in section 23-74 and sections 23-75 and 7-131d and in two substantially equal installments one in each half of the fiscal year commencing with the fiscal year ending June 30, 1999.

(1963, P.A. 649, S. 3; 1967, P.A. 739, S. 1; 1969, P.A. 190, S. 1; 1971, P.A. 63, S. 1; 872, S. 407; 1972, P.A. 21, S. 1; P.A. 78-359, S. 2, 8; P.A. 79-607, S. 8; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-33, S. 14, 17; P.A. 92-206, S. 2; P.A. 98-157, S. 5, 15; P.A. 01-204, S. 9, 29; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-9, S. 73, 131; P.A. 07-131, S. 2; P.A. 08-124, S. 1, 38; P.A. 11-80, S. 1; P.A. 15-23, S. 1; P.A. 23-196, S. 10; P.A. 24-69, S. 11.)

History: 1967 act amended Subsec. (a) to differentiate between cases where federal grants made and where not made and required that land cost be determined by state-obtained appraisals in Subsec. (b); 1969 act added Subsec. (c) re applications prior to January 1, 1968; 1971 acts amended Subsec. (b) to allow state to make appraisals and substituted commissioner of environmental protection for council on agriculture and natural resources; 1972 act amended Subsec. (b) by specifying “one or more” appraisals; P.A. 78-359 changed “shall” to “may” in Subsec. (a), included grants for development costs, added provision re information required for determining development cost grant in Subsec. (b) and in Subsec. (c) changed applicable date to January 1, 1968, and replaced reference to council with commissioner of environmental protection; P.A. 79-607 added provision concerning grants under Urban Park and Recreation Recovery Act in Subsec. (a); June Sp. Sess. P.A. 83-33 amended Subsec. (b) to include language regarding determination of the treatment of gifts to municipalities; P.A. 92-206 amended Subsec. (a) to change the specification re the amount of certain grants authorized under this section; P.A. 98-157 replaced former Subsecs. (b) and (c) with new Subsecs. (b) to (d), inclusive, re amount of grants, valuation of land and issuance of bonds, effective July 1, 1998 (Revisor's note: In 1999 a reference to Sec. 7-131c was changed editorially by the Revisors to Sec. 7-131d, since Sec. 7-131c was repealed by P.A. 98-157); P.A. 01-204 amended Subsec. (b) to allow the commissioner to make grants under the program to a nonprofit land conservation organization for the acquisition of land within a distressed municipality or targeted investment community with the approval of the chief elected official or governing legislative body of such municipality or community, effective July 11, 2001; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-9 revised effective date of P.A. 01-204 but without affecting this section; P.A. 07-131 amended Subsec. (b) to increase the percentages of the fair market value permitted to be paid in grants and added “water company” to the list of entities permitted to receive a grant in Subdiv. (5), effective July 1, 2007; P.A. 08-124 made a technical change in Subsec. (a) and amended Subsec. (c) to delete prohibition against using matching funds and to add provision permitting grantee to use state and federal funds for not more than 70% of total cost of project, effective June 2, 2008; pursuant to P.A. 11-80, “Commissioner of Environmental Protection” was changed editorially by the Revisors to “Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection” in Subsecs. (a) and (b), effective July 1, 2011; P.A. 15-23 deleted former Subsec. (a) re federal grants, redesignated existing Subsecs. (b) to (d) as Subsecs. (a) to (c) and amended redesignated Subsec. (b) by deleting reference to a potential grantee, adding reference to Subsec. (a), changing the maximum grant percentage from 70 per cent of the total cost to 90 per cent of the fair market value of the project and adding exception to such 90 per cent cap to provide a grant for 100 per cent of the fair market value of the project if certain conditions exist, effective June 4, 2015; P.A. 23-196 added Subsec. (c) re land that is subject of the execution or recording of a conservation easement or restriction that resulted from a federally funded land conservation program, municipal conservation grant program or private conservation grant program prior to the recording of a permanent conservation easement described in Subsec. (e) of Sec. 7-131d, and redesignated existing Subsec. (c) as Subsec. (d), effective June 29, 2023; P.A. 24-69 amended Subsec. (a)(5) to add reference to Sec. 32-9p for distressed municipalities, change reference from Sec. 32-9p to Sec. 32-222 for targeted investment communities and add reference to municipalities containing 1 or more environmental justice communities, effective July 1, 2024.