Sec. 22a-319. (Formerly Sec. 25-107). Initiation of watershed area programs.
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The legislative body of any town or city may vote to request the Commissioner of Energy and Environmental Protection for advice and assistance in initiating a United States Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, watershed protection and flood prevention project for the watershed or subwatershed area in which such municipality is located. The commissioner, after receiving such request, shall designate to such legislative body any other municipality or municipalities which, for the purposes of such a project, would be included in such area, and may prepare an application requesting the Secretary of Agriculture to furnish assistance in planning and carrying out such project under the provisions of said Public Law 566, as amended.
The approval of such application by the Secretary of Agriculture shall be authorization for the commissioner, with the assistance of the Secretary of Agriculture, to engage in preauthorization planning for a watershed protection and flood prevention project and to make a preauthorization report. If such report shows that a watershed protection and flood prevention project is feasible, the commissioner shall advise the legislative body of each municipality to be included in the project area of the general type and extent of works of improvement desirable for such project and he shall request the Secretary of Agriculture to develop a detailed watershed plan including, but not limited to, the project's cost estimates and environmental impacts.
The commissioner shall request the chief elected official of each municipality and the soil and water conservation district in the project area to appoint one representative each to a watershed committee whose purpose shall be to advise the commissioner on any detailed watershed plan. If the Secretary of Agriculture approves the commissioner's request to develop a detailed watershed plan, the commissioner shall cooperate in the development of such plan. After a detailed watershed plan has been developed, the commissioner shall submit copies of such plan to the legislative body of each municipality in the project area.
If two-thirds of the total number of such municipalities, by vote of their respective legislative bodies, approve the watershed plan, the commissioner shall cooperate with the Secretary of Agriculture in such plan's implementation. The watershed plan may include structural, nonstructural or land-treatment measures and may include multiple purpose developments for municipal water supply, fish, wildlife, open space or recreational uses. No watershed plan shall be implemented unless funds to meet state costs are authorized by the General Assembly or by the municipality requesting advice or assistance or both.
No watershed plan shall be implemented until an agreement reached among all of the municipalities and approved by the commissioner for reimbursement, by a municipality benefited by construction of a flood control structure, of tax revenues lost by any municipality included in the project area, but not benefited by the construction of such structure within the boundaries of that municipality.