Chapter 1

GENERAL PROVISIONS

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town of Somers as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]

ARTICLE I

Technical Amendments

[Adopted 4-29-1996 by the Board of

Selectmen, effective 5-23-1996]

~ 1-1. Ordinances amended.

The following ordinances adopted by the Somers Town Meeting or Board of Selectmen are amended and revised as provided herein:

A. The Capital Region Planning Agency Ordinance adopted 9-12-1966 by the Special Town Meeting is hereby amended to change "Connecticut Development Commission" to "Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management" in Section I.

B. The Ordinance Adopting Code of Ethics and Establishing Ethics Commission adopted 9-30-1991 by the Board of Selectmen is hereby amended as follows:

(1) At the end of Article Five, the wording "shall (he) not" is hereby deleted from Subsection 2.

(2) In the first paragraph of Article Six, the reference to Section 53-a-157 of the Connecticut General Statutes is hereby amended to Section 53a-157b.

C. The Ordinance Regarding the Licensing of Mechanical and Electronic Amusement Devices adopted 11-30-1981 by the Board of Selectmen is hereby amended to change "employee of a license" to "employee of a licensee" in Section VIII.

D. The resolution adopting the Building Code adopted 3-16-1953 by the Special Town Meeting is hereby amended to read as follows:

The Town of Somers shall adopt the minimum State Building Code adopted from the Basic Code of the Building Officials Conference of America, Inc., being particularly the 1951 edition thereof, as amended from time to time, of which three (3) copies have been and now are filed in the office of the Town of Somers. The effective date of the Building Code shall be June 15, 1953.

E. The Driveway Ordinance adopted 6-13-1988 by the Board of Selectmen is hereby amended to change "Chief Elected Official" to "Town Planner" in Section 15.

F. The Ordinance Establishing Fees for Subdivision Applications effective 6-7-1989 is hereby amended to change "submit subdivision applicants" to "submit subdivision applications" in Section 1.4.

G. The Sewer Ordinance adopted 6-9-1975 by the Board of Selectmen is hereby amended as follows:

(1) In the second paragraph of Article I, "sewage treatment of sewers" is hereby amended to "sewage treatment facilities."

(2) In Article II, "Sanitation" is hereby amended to "Sanitarian" in Section 2.14.

(3) Article III.

(a) In Section 3.1, "existing or substantially constructed houses" is hereby amended to "existing or subsequently constructed houses."

(b) In Section 3.2, "applicable provisions of the ordinances, building code, zoning ordinance, public health code, regulations of the Zoning Commission, Planning Commission, specifications of the Sewer Commission and this article" is hereby amended to "applicable provisions of this article."

(4) Article V.

(a) In Section 5.2, "on a special furnished" is hereby amended to "on a form furnished," and "inspection fee of ten ($10.00) dollars" is hereby amended to "inspection fee, as amended by the Board of Selectmen."

(b) In Section 5.8, the first sentence is hereby amended to read as follows:

When any building or other structure previously served by a connection to any public sanitary sewer is demolished, destroyed, abandoned or altered so that any sewer or portion of a plumbing system which is directly or indirectly connected to any public sanitary sewer is no longer used and is no longer connected to the sewer system which discharged, directly or indirectly, into a public sanitary sewer, the abandoned sewer or portion of a plumbing system shall be promptly closed and sealed off at the property line so that no water or wastes not otherwise permitted to enter the public sanitary sewer shall be so discharged thereinto.

(5) In Article VI, "Inland Wetlands Agency" is hereby amended to "Conservation Commission" in Section 6.2.

(6) In Article XIV, "which the application shall supplement" is hereby amended to "which the applicant shall supplement" in Section 14.2.

(7) In Article XV, the reference to Section 53a-117 of the Connecticut General Statutes in Section 15.1 is hereby amended to Section 53a-117a.

H. In the Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Ordinance effective 1-1-1981, the reference in Section 2.1 to Section 5 of the Somers Zoning Regulations, Earth Products Removal, is hereby amended to Section 3.03 of the Somers Zoning Regulations, Earth Removal and Filling.

I. In the Ordinance Providing for an Additional Amount of Exemption from Property Tax for Persons Who are Blind adopted 9-16-1985 by the Board of Selectmen, references to the "Assessor" are hereby amended to "Board of Assessors," and the wording "with respect to which such application shall include" is hereby amended to "with respect to which such application is made. Such application shall include."

J. In the Ordinance Concerning Discarded Motor Vehicles, Discarded Motor Vehicle Parts and Other Unsightly Material adopted 1-29-1973 by the Special Town Meeting, the following sentence is hereby added to Section 5: "Notice shall also be provided in a newspaper having a substantial circulation in such town."

K. The Water Main Extension Assessment Ordinance adopted 2-20-1990 by the Special Town Meeting is hereby amended as follows:

(1) In the Table of Estimated Water Consumption at Various Types of Establishments in Section 3.1, under "schools," "Day, with cafeteria and showers and employees" is hereby amended to "Day, with cafeteria and showers, per students and employees."

(2) At the end of Section 4.1, the second-last sentence, which reads "The starting date of the water main extension project," is hereby deleted.

(3) In Section 5.3c, "FPU=NFF.750" is hereby amended to "FPU=NFF/750."

(4) In Section 9.4, the wording "by which the assessment is not paid in full" is hereby amended to "by which the assessment shall be paid in full. If the assessment is not paid in full."

L. Throughout the town's ordinances, all references to the town dump or town landfill are hereby amended to refer to the Somers Transfer and Recycling Center.

M. Throughout the town's ordinances, all references to the "Sewer Commission" are hereby amended to "Water Pollution Control Authority."

ARTICLE II

Repealer

[Adopted 4-29-1996 by the Board of

Selectmen, effective 5-23-1996]

~ 1-2. Ordinances repealed.

The following ordinances adopted by the Somers Town Meeting or Board of Selectmen are hereby repealed:

A. An ordinance adopted 12-16-1941 by the Special Town Meeting regarding sewage disposal facilities.

B. An ordinance on national defense adopted 3-2-1942 by the Special Town Meeting.

C. An ordinance regarding the establishment of a zoning system and a Zoning Commission adopted 10-16-1944 by the Annual Town Meeting.

D. An ordinance regarding the terms of office of the members of the Zoning Commission adopted 10-1-1945 by the Special Town Meeting.

E. An ordinance governing construction of new roads adopted 3-21-1951 by the Special Town Meeting, as amended 2-9-1954 by the Special Town Meeting and 7-2-1954 by the Special Town Meeting.

F. An ordinance establishing a Recreation Commission adopted 9-30-1963 by the Board of Selectmen, as amended 5-15-1972 by the Board of Selectmen.

G. An ordinance adopting the uniform fiscal year adopted 7-12-1965 by the Special Town Meeting.

H. An ordinance concerning Justices of the Peace adopted 6-24-1968 by the Board of Selectmen.

I. An ordinance regarding the Sewer Commission adopted 4-21-1970 by the Board of Selectmen.

J. An ordinance establishing a Conservation Commission adopted 9-17-1971 by the Board of Selectmen, as amended 5-7-1974 by the Special Town Meeting.

K. An ordinance regulating and licensing the conduct of sidewalk sales, tag sales and auction sales adopted effective 2-20-1973.

L. An ordinance concerning parking control adopted 5-7-1974 by the Special Town Meeting.

M. An ordinance concerning inland wetlands and watercourses regulations adopted 5-7-1974 by the Special Town Meeting.

N. An ordinance creating alternate members of the Zoning Commission adopted 3-6-1978 by the Board of Selectmen.

O. An ordinance for the management of floodplains adopted 10-19-1981 by the Special Town Meeting.

ARTICLE III

Adoption of Code

[Adopted 8-5-1996 by the Board of

Selectmen, effective 8-25-1996]

~ 1-3. Adoption.

The compilation of the ordinances of the Town of Somers, codified and consolidated into parts, chapters and sections in the form attached hereto and made a part hereof, is hereby approved, adopted, ordained and enacted as the "Code of the Town of Somers, Connecticut," hereinafter called the "Code." All provisions contained in the compilation provided for herein and known as the "Code of the Town of Somers" shall be in force and effect on and after the effective date of this article.

~ 1-4. Continuation of existing provisions.

The provisions of the Code, insofar as they are substantively the same as those ordinances in force immediately prior to the enactment of the Code by this article, are intended as a continuation of such ordinances and not as new enactments, and the effectiveness of such provisions shall date from the date of adoption of the prior ordinance. All such provisions are hereby continued in full force and effect and are hereby reaffirmed as to their adoption by the Town Meeting or Board of Selectmen.

~ 1-5. Repeal of inconsistent ordinances.

All ordinances or parts thereof of the Town of Somers of a general and permanent nature in force on the date of the adoption of this article which are inconsistent with any provisions of the Code are hereby repealed from and after the effective date of this article; provided, however, that nothing herein shall be construed as repealing or altering the zoning, subdivision of land or inland wetlands and watercourses regulations or the sewer use charge system of the town.

~ 1-6. Abridgment of powers.

Nothing contained herein shall abridge the legal authority of any board, commission or agency of the Town of Somers to make, publish, adopt, repeal, change or amend its rules, regulations or bylaws in accordance with law.

~ 1-7. Severability.

If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section, article or part of this article or of any ordinance or regulation appearing in the Code or included in this Code through supplementation shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, section, Article or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which judgment shall have been rendered.

~ 1-8. Copy of Code on file.

A copy of the Code, in loose-leaf form, has been filed in the office of the Town Clerk of the Town of Somers and shall remain there for use and examination by the public until final action is taken on this article; and, if this article shall be adopted, such copy shall be certified to by the Town Clerk of the Town of Somers by impressing thereon the Seal of the Town of Somers, and such certified copy shall remain on file in the office of said Town Clerk to be made available to persons desiring to examine the same during all times while said Code is in effect. The enactment and publication of this article, coupled with the availability of a copy of the Code for inspection by the public, shall be deemed, held and considered to be due and legal publication of all provisions of the Code for all purposes.

~ 1-9. Amendments to Code.

Any and all additions, deletions, amendments or supplements to any of the ordinances known collectively as the "Code of the Town of Somers" or any new ordinances, when enacted or adopted in such form as to indicate the intention of the Town Meeting or Board of Selectmen to be a part thereof, shall be deemed to be incorporated into such Code so that reference to the Code shall be understood and intended to include such additions, deletions, amendments or supplements. Whenever such additions, deletions, amendments or supplements to the Code shall be enacted or adopted, they shall thereafter be printed and, as provided hereunder, inserted in the loose-leaf book containing said Code, as amendments and supplements thereto. Nothing contained in this article shall affect the status of any ordinance contained herein, and such ordinances may be amended, deleted or changed from time to time as the Town Meeting or Board of Selectmen deems desirable.

~ 1-10. Code book to be kept up-to-date.

It shall be the duty of the Town Clerk to keep up-to-date the certified copy of the book containing the Code of the Town of Somers required to be filed in the office of the Town Clerk for use by the public. All changes in said Code and all ordinances adopted by the Town Meeting or Board of Selectmen subsequent to the enactment of this article in such form as to indicate the intention of said Meeting or Board to be a part of said Code shall, when finally enacted or adopted, be included therein by temporary attachment of copies of such changes until such changes are printed as supplements to said Code book, at which time such supplements shall be inserted therein.

~ 1-11. Sale of Code book; supplementation.

Copies of the Code may be purchased from the Town Clerk of the Town of Somers upon the payment of a fee to be set by resolution of the Board of Selectmen, which Board may also arrange by resolution for procedures for the periodic supplementation thereof.

~ 1-12. Changes in previously adopted legislation.

In compiling and preparing the ordinances for publication as the Code of the Town of Somers, no changes in the meaning or intent of such ordinances have been made, except as have been made by formal amendment thereto. Certain grammatical changes and other minor nonsubstantive changes were made in one or more of said ordinances, as authorized by the town. It is the intention of the town that all such changes be adopted as part of the Code as if the ordinances had been previously formally amended to read as such.