Connecticut General Statutes

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 15-73 (2026)

Airport protection privileges. Encroachments prohibited. Standards for determining necessity of taking land

✓ current as of May 2026

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Where necessary in order to provide unobstructed air space for the landing and taking-off of aircraft, in the case of airports, heliports, vertiports and restricted landing areas acquired or operated by the authority, the executive director or, if a taking is required, the Commissioner of Transportation, and, in the case of municipal airports, the municipality, is granted authority to acquire, in the same manner as is provided for the acquisition of property for airport purposes, easements through or other interests in air space over land or water, interests in airport hazards outside the boundaries of the airports, heliports, vertiports or restricted landing areas, and such other airport protection privileges as are necessary to ensure safe approaches to the landing areas of such airports, heliports, vertiports and restricted landing areas and the safe and efficient operation thereof. The executive director or, if a taking is required, said commissioner, is empowered to acquire in the same manner the right of easement for a term of years or perpetually to place or maintain suitable marks for the daytime marking and suitable lights for the nighttime marking of airport hazards for the purpose of maintaining and repairing such lights and marks. No person shall build, rebuild or create or cause to be built, rebuilt or created any object, or plant, cause to be planted or permit to grow higher any tree or trees or other vegetation, which encroach upon any airport protection privileges acquired pursuant to the provisions of this section. Any such encroachment is declared to be a public nuisance and may be abated in the manner prescribed by law for the abatement of public nuisances, or the municipality in charge of the airport, heliport, vertiport or restricted landing area for which airport protection privileges have been acquired as provided in this section may go upon the land of others and remove any such encroachment without being liable for damages in so doing. Before exercising any of the powers conferred in this section, the executive director shall establish and publish in detailed form, available to the public, the standards which the executive director has adopted and will apply in making a determination that public convenience and necessity require the taking of any parcel of land or interest therein.

(1949 Rev., S. 4818; 1967, P.A. 802; 1969, P.A. 768, S. 184; P.A. 85-262, S. 7; P.A. 15-192, S. 36; P.A. 24-40, S. 36.)

History: 1967 act required that commission publish standards adopted re determining that land taking is necessary; 1969 act replaced “commission”, referring to aeronautics commission, with “commissioner”, referring to commissioner of transportation; P.A. 85-262 extended the provisions of this section to heliports; P.A. 15-192 replaced “state, the commissioner” with “authority, the executive director or, if a taking is required, the Commissioner of Transportation”, replaced “commissioner” with “executive director” and made technical and conforming changes, effective July 2, 2015; P.A. 24-40 added references to vertiports and made technical changes, effective July 1, 2024.

Sec. 13b-43 and this section provide a vehicle for a municipality to acquire interests in airport hazards to ensure safe and efficient operation of an airport. 185 C. 145. Cited. 201 C. 700, 706; 230 C. 140.

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Notes of Decisions

Cited in 4 cases, 1970–1994 · leading case: Powers v. Ulichny, 440 A.2d 885 (Conn. 1981).

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Powers v. Ulichny, 440 A.2d 885 (Conn. 1981). · cites it 19× “In the case of municipal airports General Statutes § 15-73 grants to the plaintiff municipality, the city of Bridgeport, the power to acquire easements in airspace.”

Town of East Haven v. City of New Haven, 271 A.2d 110 (Conn. 1970). · cites it 4× “[2] It is noteworthy that §§ 15-34 (7) and (9) as well as § 15-73 were, together with § 15-79, first adopted as part of Public Act No.”

Connecticut Air Serv., Inc. v. Danbury Aviation Comm'n, 561 A.2d 120 (Conn. 1989). · cites it 2× “” General Statutes § 15-73 provides in part: “Where necessary in order to provide unobstructed air space for the landing and taking-off of aircraft, in case of airports, heliports and restricted landing areas acquired or operated by the state, the commissioner .”

Ulichny v. City of Bridgeport, 644 A.2d 347 (Conn. 1994). · cites it 11× “We held that the issuance of a permanent injunction would constitute “the functional equivalent” of a taking of a property interest under General Statutes § 15-73, 5 *144 part of the aeronautics laws, and therefore the city was required to utilize the strict taking procedures…”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.