9-0815 – Request for Comment on Local Laws or Ordinances Pertaining to the Practice of Forestry.

§ 9-0815. Request  for comment on local laws or ordinances pertaining to
          the practice of forestry.
The commissioner upon his or her own initiative, or upon  the  written
  request  of  a  municipality  or  an  owner  of  forest  land within the
  municipality, may  elect  to  comment  upon  a  proposed  local  law  or
  ordinance  which  may  restrict the practice of forestry. The requesting
  municipality or owner of forest land shall provide, at  a  minimum,  the
  full  text  of  the  proposed local law or ordinance to the commissioner
  with such request.
1. Upon receipt of such written request  or  upon  the  commissioner's
  determination  to  comment on a local law or ordinance, the commissioner
  shall notify the municipal legislative body, in writing, of the  receipt
  date or the date of such determination.
2.  An  owner  of  forest  land  shall provide notice to the municipal
  legislative body proposing the local  law  or  ordinance  of  a  written
  request  to  the  commissioner  in  the time, manner, and form as may be
  prescribed by the commissioner.
3.  The  commissioner,  in  preparing  his   or   her   comments   for
  consideration  by  the municipality, may consider factors including, but
  not limited to, the impact of the proposed local law or  ordinance  upon
  the   long-term  viability  of  forests  in  the  municipality  and  any
  modifications or alternatives which  a  municipality  may  undertake  to
  minimize the impacts to the practice of forestry in preparing his or her
  comments.
4.  The  commissioner  shall  have forty-five days after receipt of an
  ordinance to provide his or her  comments,  if  any,  to  the  municipal
  legislative   body   proposing  the  law  or  ordinance.  Any  municipal
  legislative body shall defer the adoption of such local law or ordinance
  pending receipt of comments,  if  any,  from  the  commissioner  or  the
  passage  of  forty-five  days  from  the date of receipt of the proposed
  local law or ordinance by the commissioner. The commissioner shall  have
  the  opportunity  to respond only to the original proposal considered by
  the local governing body.
5. For purposes of this section, "forest land" shall mean land that is
  suitable to forest crop production.