[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town of Ridgefield as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 6-5-1974 as §§ 1-2 and 1-7 of the 1974 Code]
In the construction of this Code, and of all ordinances, the following rules shall be observed, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
A. 
County. The words "the county" or "this county" shall mean the County of Fairfield.
B. 
Easement. The word "easement" shall mean a nonpossessory interest in a parcel or piece of land. Such interest may include, but shall not be limited to, rights-of-way for streets or sidewalks and rights to run drainpipes and ditches, etc.
C. 
Gender. A word importing the masculine gender only shall extend and be applied to females and to firms, partnerships and corporations as well as to males.
D. 
Joint authority. All words giving joint authority to three or more persons or officers shall be construed as giving such authority to a majority of such persons or officers.
E. 
Keeper and proprietor. The words "keeper" and "proprietor" shall mean and include persons, firms, associations, corporations, clubs and copartnerships, whether acting by themselves or through a servant, agent or employee.
F. 
Municipality. The word "municipality" shall mean the Town of Ridgefield.
G. 
Number. A word imparting the singular number only may extend and be applied to several persons and things as well as to one person and thing.
H. 
Open space or open area. The words "open space" or "open area" shall mean any space or area the preservation or restriction of the use of which would:
(1) 
Maintain or enhance the conservation of natural or scenic resources;
(2) 
Protect natural streams or water supply;
(3) 
Promote conservation of soils, wetlands, beaches or tidal marshes;
(4) 
Enhance the value to the public or abutting or neighboring parks, forests, wildlife preserves, nature reservations or sanctuaries, or other open areas and open spaces;
(5) 
Afford or enhance public recreation opportunities;
(6) 
Preserve historic sites;
(7) 
Implement the plan of development adopted by the Planning and Zoning Commission of the municipality; or
(8) 
Promote orderly urban or suburban development.
I. 
Owner. The word "owner," applied to a building or land, shall include any part owner, joint owner, tenant in common, joint tenant, or tenant by the entirety of the whole or of a part of such building or land.
J. 
Person. The word "person" shall extend and be applied to associations, firms, partnerships and bodies politic and corporate as well as to individuals.
K. 
Personal property. Personal property includes every species of property except real property, as herein defined.
L. 
Property. The word "property" shall include real and personal property.
M. 
Public place. The term "public place" shall include any park, cemetery, school yard or open space adjacent thereto and any lake or stream.
N. 
Real property. Real property shall include lands, tenements and hereditaments.
O. 
Selectmen. The word "Selectmen" shall mean the Board of Selectmen of the Town.
P. 
Sidewalk. The word "sidewalk" shall mean any portion of a street between the curbline and the adjacent property line intended for the use of pedestrians, excluding parkways.
Q. 
State. The words "the state" or "this state" shall be construed to mean the State of Connecticut.
R. 
State law or general law. State law or general law shall refer to the General Statutes of Connecticut, as amended.
S. 
Street. The word "street" shall be construed to embrace streets, avenues, boulevards, roads, alleys, lanes, viaducts and all other public ways in the Town and may include private ways over which the Town exercises jurisdiction.
T. 
Tenant or occupant. The word "tenant" or "occupant," applied to a building or land, shall include any person holding a written or oral lease or who occupies the whole or a part of such building or land, either alone or with others.
U. 
Tense. Words used in the past or present tense include the future as well as the past and present.
V. 
Town. The term "Town" or "the Town" shall mean the Town of Ridgefield, in the County of Fairfield and State of Connecticut.
A. 
Whenever in this Code, or any other ordinance, rule or regulation promulgated by any officer or agency of the Town under authority vested in him or it by law, any act is prohibited or declared to be unlawful, or the doing of any act is required or the failure to do any act is declared to be unlawful, and no specific penalty is provided therefor by this Code, any other ordinance, rule or regulation, or the General Statutes, violation of any such provision of this Code, or any other ordinance, rule or regulation, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100. Each day any violation of any provision of this Code or any other ordinance, rule or regulation of the Town continues shall constitute a separate offense.
[Amended 3-17-2010]
B. 
The imposition of any punishment hereunder shall not prevent the enforced abatement of any unlawful condition by the Town.
[Adopted 3-17-2010]
The compilation of the ordinances of the Town of Ridgefield, codified and consolidated into 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 Ridgefield, Connecticut," hereinafter called the "Code." All provisions contained in the compilation provided for herein and known as the "Code of the Town of Ridgefield" shall be in force and effect on and after the effective date of this ordinance.
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 ordinance, 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.
A. 
All ordinances or parts of ordinances of the Town of Ridgefield of a general and permanent nature in force on the date of the adoption of this ordinance which are inconsistent with any provisions of the Code are hereby repealed from and after the effective date of this ordinance.
B. 
The following sections from the 1974 Code of Ordinances, as amended, are specifically repealed: §§ 2-1, 2-6, 2-7, 2-8, 2-24, 2-67, 2-70, 7-1, 7-2, 7-3, 7-5, 7-6, 7-12, 11-75 through 11-81 and 12-1.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, section, article or part of this ordinance or of any ordinance appearing in the Code or included in this Code through supplementation, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, shall be adjudged by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder thereof or the application thereof to other persons and circumstances but shall be confined in its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, section, article or part thereof and the persons and circumstances directly involved in the controversy in which judgment shall have been rendered.
A copy of the Code has been filed in the office of the Town Clerk of the Town of Ridgefield and shall remain there for use and examination by the public until final action is taken on this ordinance; and, if this ordinance shall be adopted, such copy shall be certified to by the Town Clerk of the Town of Ridgefield, 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 ordinance, 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.
Any and all additions, deletions, amendments or supplements to any of the ordinances in the Code of the Town of Ridgefield, or any new ordinances, when enacted or adopted in such form as to indicate the intention that they 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 inserted in the Code as amendments and supplements thereto.
It shall be the duty of the Town Clerk to keep up-to-date the certified copy of the Code of the Town of Ridgefield 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 subsequent to the enactment of this ordinance in such form as to indicate the intention that they 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 included as supplements to said Code.
Copies of the Code, or any chapter or portion of it, may be purchased from the Town Clerk of the Town of Ridgefield or an authorized agent of the Town Clerk upon the payment of a fee to be set by the Town. The Town Clerk may also arrange for procedures for the periodic supplementation thereof.
Any person who, without authorization from the Town Clerk, changes or amends, by additions or deletions, any part or portion of the Code of the Town of Ridgefield, or who alters or tampers with such Code in any manner whatsoever which will cause the legislation of the Town of Ridgefield to be misrepresented thereby, or who violates any other provision of this ordinance, shall, upon conviction thereof, be subject to a fine of not more than $100.
A. 
In compiling and preparing the ordinances for publication as the Code of the Town of Ridgefield, no changes in the meaning or intent of such ordinances have been made, except as provided in Subsections B and C of this section. Certain grammatical changes and other minor nonsubstantive changes were made in one or more of said ordinances. It is the intention of the Town Meeting that all such changes be adopted as part of the Code as if the ordinances had been previously formally amended to read as such.
B. 
The following changes are made throughout the Code:
(1) 
References to specific chapters and sections of the Connecticut General Statutes are updated to reflect the numbering of the statutes as of the publication of this Code.
(2) 
References to the "Planning Commission" are amended to read "Planning and Zoning Commission."
(3) 
References to the "Police Commission" are amended to read "Board of Police Commissioners."
(4) 
References to the "Building Inspector" are amended to read "Building Official."
(5) 
References to the "Health Officer" and "Health Director" are amended to read "Director of Health."
(6) 
Specific fee amounts are replaced with "as provided in Chapter 170, Fees, § 170-2."
C. 
In addition, the amendments and/or additions as set forth in Schedule A attached hereto and made a part hereof are made herewith, to become effective upon the effective date of this ordinance. (Chapter and section number references are to the ordinances as they have been renumbered and appear in the Code.)[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Schedule A, which contains a complete description of all changes, is on file in the Town Clerk's office.