[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."
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.
This ordinance shall take effect upon passage and publication
as required by law.
