[Adopted 4-17-1990 (Ord. No. 10-042)]
Pursuant to the provisions of Section 7-149a of the Connecticut General Statutes (P.A. 81-401), as amended, the Planning and Zoning Commission may designate Town highways or portions of highways as scenic roads. No state highway or portion thereof may be designated as a scenic road under this article.
The Planning and Zoning Commission shall consider designating as a scenic road only those Town roads which are free of intensive commercial development and intensive vehicular traffic and which meet at least one of the following criteria:
A. 
It is unpaved;
B. 
It is bordered by matures trees or stone walls;
C. 
The travel portion is no more than 20 feet in width;
D. 
It offers scenic views;
E. 
It blends naturally into the surrounding terrain; or
F. 
It parallels or crosses over brooks, streams, lakes, or ponds.
A. 
When a highway is to be considered for designation as a scenic road, the Planning and Zoning Commission shall schedule a public hearing on the proposal. Hearing notices and deadlines will be in accordance with the provisions of Sections 8-26d, 8-26e and 8-26h of the Connecticut General Statutes. The Planning and Zoning Commission shall notify the Selectpersons, the Director of Public Works, and owners of lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of a highway of the proposed designation and scheduled public hearing.
[Amended 5-30-2023]
B. 
Following the public hearing, the Planning and Zoning Commission shall vote on the proposed designation. No highway or portion of a highway may be designated as a scenic road under this section unless the owners of a majority of lot frontage abutting a highway or a portion of the highway agreed to the designation by filing a written statement of approval with the Town Clerk of the Town of Thompson. The designation shall become effective upon such date as the Planning and Zoning Commission may establish.
C. 
The scenic road designation may be rescinded by the Planning and Zoning Commission, using the same procedures and having the written concurrence of the owners of a majority of lot frontage abutting the highway.
D. 
Any person aggrieved by a designation of a highway or a portion of a highway as a scenic road pursuant to this section by the Planning and Zoning Commission may appeal such designation in the same manner and utilizing the same standards of review provided for appeals from the decisions of planning commissions under C.G.S. § 8-28.
E. 
Any parcel of land affected by the scenic road designation must still conform with the necessary improvements as the Select Board and/or the Planning and Zoning Commission shall from time to time require, as may be necessary for public safety and the long-range upkeep and improvements of the particular Town road.
A. 
No road which has been designated as a scenic road under this article shall be altered or improved, including, but not limited to, widening of the right-of-way or the travel portion of the road, paving of an unpaved or dirt road, changes of grade, removal of stone bridges, straightening, removal of stone walls, and removal of mature trees, except for good cause determined by the Planning and Zoning Commission. Prior to the Planning and Zoning Commission approving any alteration or improvement of a road designated as a scenic road under this article, the Planning and Zoning Commission shall schedule a public hearing on the proposed alteration or improvement. The Planning and Zoning Commission shall notify the Selectpersons, the Director of Public Works, and owners of lot frontage abutting the highway or portion of the highway designated as a scenic road of the proposed alteration and improvement and scheduled public hearing. Hearing notices and deadlines shall be in accordance with the provisions of Sections 8-26d and 8-26e of the Connecticut General Statutes. Following the public hearing, the Planning and Zoning Commission shall vote on the proposed future alterations and improvements and shall state the reasons for any such approved alterations or improvements in its minutes.
[Amended 5-30-2023]
B. 
Any highway or portion of any highway designated as a scenic road shall maintained by the Town in good and sufficient repair and in passable condition. Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit a person owning or occupying land abutting a scenic road from maintaining and repairing the land which abuts the scenic road if the maintenance or repair occurs on land not within the right-of-way, paved or unpaved, of the scenic road.