Charter

COMPILED CHARTER OF

THE GROVE BEACH IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION

(As of October 15, 1927)

Revised December 3, 1950

Revised August 20, 1983

SECTION 1. The owners of a freehold interest in any land within the limits specified in section two of the act, approved April 3, 1895, incorporating The Grove Beach Improvement Association, in the locality known as Grove Beach, in the towns of Clinton and Westbrook in Middlesex County (Note: This territory comprises all that territory in said towns of Clinton and Westbrook bounded Westerly by a line drawn due South from the center of the first culvert east of the bridge over Hammock Creek on the new road from Clinton to Westbrook, to low water mark on Long Island Sound; Southerly by the low water line of Long Island Sound from said mark to the highway running Northerly near the farmhouse formerly owned by William L. Lewis; Easterly by said highway from low water mark on said sound to its junction with the new road from Clinton to Westbrook; and Northerly by said new road from said junction to the point of starting.) shall be, while they continue to be the owners of such land, a body politic and corporate by the name of The Grove Beach Improvement Association, and by that name they and their successors shall be a corporation in law capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded in all courts, and shall be vested with and possess the powers hereinafter specified. All persons who are over twenty one years of age who own or who may own any land within said limits shall, while they continue to be owners of such land, be members of said The Grove Beach Improvement Association, and entitled to vote at any meeting of said association, and shall be eligible to any office in said association. This section shall become operative on its approval by a majority vote of the qualified members of the association at a meeting thereof called and held for that purpose.

(Note: This section approved by vote oj the Association and effective on August 27, 1927.)

Sec. 2. The limits and territory of said The Grove Beach Improvement Association are hereby defined and established as follows, to wit: all that territory in said towns of Clinton and Westbrook bounded westerly by a line drawn due south from the center of the first culvert east of the bridge over Hammock Creek, on the new road from Clinton to Westbrook, to low water mark on Long Island Sound; southerly by the low water line of Long Island Sound from said mark to the highway running northerly near the farm house now owned by William L. Lewis; easterly by said highway from low water mark on said sound to its junction with the new road from Clinton to Westbrook; and northerly by said new road from said junction to the point of starting.

Sec. 3. The objects of said association shall be to provide for the improvement of the lands in said territory and for the health, comfort, protection and convenience of the inhabitants thereof.

Sec. 4. The first meeting of the members of said corporation shall be held in July or August, 1895, at such time and place within the limits of said The Grove Beach Improvement Association as the committee herein-after named shall appoint in a notice warning such meeting, for the purpose of electing a governing board to consist of five members of said The Grove Beach Improvement Association, who shall hold office until the first day of October, 1896, and until others shall be chosen in their places, unless they shall sooner cease to be property holders within the limits of said association. Annual meetings shall thereafter be held in August, at such time and place as the governing board shall direct and warn, and shall elect a governing board to consist of five persons, who shall hold office for one year from the first day of October next succeeding.

Sec. 5. Dwight Holbrook, A.M. Wheeler, L.H. Hurtt, George B. Hurd, S.E. Barney, Jr. or a majority of them, shall have full power and authority to warn the first meeting of the members of said association for the purpose of electing five members to form a governing board, which warning shall be written or printed, signed by a majority of said board, and three copies at least posted in public places within the limits of said association, at least three days before such meeting; and either one of said committee may call such meeting to order, and may lead the same to the choice of a moderator and clerk or in case of no motion to elect a moderator, may lead such meeting to the choice of a clerk, and the election of a governing board. All subsequent meetings, annual or special , shall be warned by said governing board in the manner by them prescribed in rules or by-laws made by said board.

Sec. 6. Any vacancy in said board, occurring between April and November in any year, may be filled by a majority of the remaining members, and such member so appointed shall hold office for the unexpired time.

Sec. 7. Said association may purchase, acquire or own real estate, and the governing board may enact by-laws or ordinances for the following purposes: To regulate travel from June fifteenth to September fifteenth over the highways within the limits of the association when, in the opinion of said board, the free and unrestricted use of said highways may become dangerous or inconvenient; to appoint and remove police officers to act within the limits of said association, who shall have the powers of constables within said limits, for the purpose of making arrests for violations of any law or regulation or by-law of said association; to clean and improve any and all ditches; to care for beaches and waterfronts; to keep the streets and all public places within the limits of said association quiet and free from noise; to regulate the parking of motor vehicles; to build, repair and improve highways, roads and sidewalks within the limits of said association; to require owners or lessors of land or buildings within the limits of said association; to remove leaves and other inflammable material or obstructions from the highway adjacent to or in front of property, owned, leased or occupied by them; to prevent the deposit upon the property within the limits of said association of any refuse, garbage or waste material of any kind which, in the opinion of said board, may endanger the public health or safety, or which may become a nuisance; to remove garbage, filth, nightsoil, ashes and other refuse matter within said limits, and to authorize such persons as the board may designate to make entry on any private property within said limits for the purpose of taking and removing all filth, garbage, ashes, nightsoil or any other offensive matter; to establish building lines; to protect any property from danger by fire, including the regulation of the number of cottages and structures that may be erected or placed on a single building lot within said limits; to regulate the carrying on within the limits of said association of any business that will, in the opinion of said board, be prejudicial to public health or dangerous to or constitute an unreasonable annoyance to those living or owning property in the vicinity thereof, which regulations shall be uniform for each class or kind of buildings or structures, or class of business; to regulate peddling as provided for in towns under section 422 of the general statutes; to restrict the right of entry Oil the property of said association except upon the highways; to promote the planting of trees and shrubbery and other work leading to the improvement of the general appearance of the community. Said governing board may fix a penalty for each violation of any of such by-laws, ordinances or regulations, of not more than twenty dollars for each offense, and the penalties may be recovered in any action brought for the purpose in the name of The Grove Beach Improvement Association before any court having jurisdiction, for the use and benefit of said association. No by-laws or ordinance shall take effect until ten days after its passage, nor until it shall have been posted on a signpost within the limits of the association, to be designated by the governing board, for at least seven days. A certificate of the secretary of said association of the posting of any by-law or ordinance as provided herein shall be prima facie evidence of such posting.

Sec. 8. To prevent nuisances and to promote the health of the place, and to facilitate the removal of all garbage and nightsoil, said board shall have full power and authority to direct how and where and in what vessel garbage from the various cottages and dwellings shall be deposited, or may prescribe and direct what vessel or receptacle shall be provided and used at the various privies within said limits, and may enforce such order t y proper rules and regulations. And if any property owner shall refuse to furnish, or, after five days' notices, neglect to provide the proper receptacle a: ordered by said board for privies and out houses, said board may provide the same and recover the cost thereon against the owner of the property by an action in the name of said corporation; and when a proper receptacle for nightsoil has been provided as directed by said board, if any occupant of the property neglects to deposit the nightsoil from such property in such receptacle, and deposits the same elsewhere, the owner shall be liable to pay the said association five dollars for every week such nightsoil shall be deposited in violation of the order of said board, such penalty to recovered in the name of said association, in a proper action at law.

Sec. 9. Said governing board shall, within said limits, examine into all nuisances and sources of filth injurious to the public health, and may cause to be removed all filth from said limits, whether on public or private property, which, in their judgment, shall endanger the health of the inhabitants or render the occupation of any building material uncomfortable, and may notify all persons causing or maintaining such nuisances to abate and remove and discontinue the same within such time as the board shall order; and if the same shall not be removed and discontinued as ordered, said board may remove the same and recover the expense of such removal from any person so causing or maintaining the same in any proper action in the name of said corporation.

Sec. 10. The Grove Beach Improvement Association shall have full and complete power to construct and maintain a system of sewerage and drainage within the territorial limits described in section two, and may for that purpose: acquire and hold real estate by purchase, gift, or right of eminent domain. The Grove Beach Improvement Association shall have power to levy and collect assessments upon all the land or real estate situated within the territorial limits described in section two, or so much thereof as may be directly benefited by said sewerage system, adequate to properly defray the cost of building and maintaining the same. Said assessment may be; made at such times and for such pro rata amount, based upon the market value of said real estate, as The Grove Beach Improvement Association may determine, or at its option said assessment may be based upon the number of lineal feet along the line of the sewer main of said sewerage system: provided that in case the latter method of levying the assessment is adopted, said assessment per lineal foot upon the land north of the said sewer main shall equal three-quarters only of the amount assessed per lineal foot south of said sewer main. Whenever said assessment shall be made, The Grove Beach Improvement Association shall appoint a collector to collect the same, who shall have all the powers in relation thereto that are now vested by law in the tax collector of the town of Clinton in relation to the collection of taxes. Any person claiming to be aggrieved by the action of the said The Grove Beach Improvement Association in reference to the said assessment may have the same right to make application is the nature of an appeal to the superior court of Middlesex county as is provided by the general statutes of this state for appeals from boards of relief and the manner of taking said appeal shall follow as near as may be the manner provided by statute for taking appeals from boards of relief, with the exception that The Grove Beach Improvement Association shall be substituted in place of the town or city.

Sec. 11. To prevent nuisances and to promote the health of the place and to render said sewerage system effective, said governing board described in section four of the charter of said association shall hr.ve full power and authority to order and direct in what manner connections with said sewerage system shall be made from the various cottages and buildings now existing or to be built within the territorial limits of The Grove Beach Improvement Association, and may enforce such orders by proper rules and regulations. And if any property owner shall refuse, or after twenty days' notice shall neglect, to make such connection or connections with said sewerage system as ordered by said board, said board may cause said connection or connections to be made, and may recover the cost thereof against the owner of the property by an action in the name of said corporation. Whenever a proper connection has been made with said sewerage system, if any occupant of the property neglects or fails to make the customary or proper use of the same, the owner shall be liable to pay The Grove Beach Improvement Association ten dollars for each week of such neglect, such penalty to be recovered in the name of The Grove Beach Improvement Association in a proper action at law.

Sec. 12. Said board shall have full power and authority, at such time, in such manner, and to such extent, as a majority of the members of said association shall direct, to improve its principal street running through the grove, and keep in good repair, and to construct and maintain a convenient sidewalk along its length from the western boundary of the said association's territory to the place where the post office now is; and said board may assess upon all the members of said association, and collect by due process of law, if necessary, the cost of such improvements and of their maintenance; and such assessment shall be apportioned pro rata according to the amount of tax laid for the current year by the towns of Clinton and Westbrook, respectively, upon the property of each member of said association within said limits.

Sec. 13. At any annual meeting or adjourned annual meeting of said association, upon notice to all members of said association, a notice, signed by the president or by any three members of the governing board, at least ten days before the date of such meeting designating the time and place thereof, the association may, by a majority vote of the members present at such meeting, change the basis of it assessment on all real property within the limits of said association to correspond to the assessment values of the property as shown on the tax list of the town wherein such property is located, and may adopt such method as the basis of assessment, and thereupon may establish such rate of taxation for the ensuing years such meeting may determine. Said tax shall not exceed five mills in anyone year. The secretary of said association, on or before June fifteenth of each year, shall prepare an assessment list of all the real estate within the limits of said association, including therein the value of the houses, buildings and improvements thereon, placing in the name of each member such land, buildings and improvements as are assessed to each member on the last assessment list of the respective town of location at the value at which they stand on such assessment list. If any piece of land so assessed in the list of any such town shall be partly within and partly without the limits of the association, the secretary of said association shall assess the part within said association in the proportion which the part within the association shall bear to the whole tract or property so assessed, using his best judgment as to such value. Such secretary shall, on or before the twentieth day of June, report such list to the governing board, which shall revise such list, if such board shall find that the same shall fail to correspond with the last assessment list of the town wherein any such property is located, or, if such board shall find that there are any errors in the proportional valuation of such parts of any piece of property partly within and partly without the association, said board shall correct the same, and such list when so revised shall be adopted by said board, and shall then be and constitute the assessment list for the association. Such list shall be revised, completed and recorded by the secretary in the records of the association on or before the tenth day of July next succeeding, and such assessment list shall be open for inspection by any member of the association. Any person claiming to be aggrieved by any such proportional valuation in such assessment may appeal to the superior court in the manner provided by the general statutes for appeals from the board of relief. The tax so established shall be collected by the treasurer, or by any collector specially appointed by the governing board for that purpose. Each assessment so made, with interest thereon, shall be due to said association, from the owner or owners of real estate upon which it was so made as such owner shall appear from the land or probate records of the respective towns or district in which such real estate shall be located, on the first day of June before such assessment was made. Written notice of the rate of such tax and the amount thereof, or of the assessment apportioned to each member of the association, shall be sent by the treasurer or collector to each member of the association within ten days from the laying of such tax, and such tax shall be due and payable within thirty days from the levying of such tax, and in the manner stated therein, and, if such tax shall not be paid when due, it shall bear interest at the rate of eight per centum per annum from the date it shall be payable. The treasurer or other collector shall have all the powers of collectors of town taxes, and shall be accountable to the governing board in the same manner as town collectors are accountable to selectmen. Such tax or assessment shall be a lien upon the property upon which it shall be laid for one year from the first day of June before such assessment was made, and may be collected by suit in the name of the association by foreclosure of such lien. Such lien may be continued by certificate which shall be recorded in the land records of the town or towns, pursuant to the provisions of the general statutes relating to the continuance of tax liens. The provisions of this section shall not be extended to other than improved property and building lots within the association limits until the inclusion of other real estate within said limits as permitted under the provisions of said section shall be approved by a majority vote of the qualified members of the association at a meeting thereof called and held for that purpose.

(Note: The provisions of this section extended to all real estate within the association by vote of the association effective August 27, 1927.)

Sec. 14. All general by-laws, rules, and orders made by said governing board may be published by printing in any newspaper having a circulation within the limits of said association, or by posting printed or written copies of the same in public places within said limits, and after three days by such publication, such by-laws, rules and orders shall be in force.

Sec. 15. Whenever in the act incorporating said association, or in any amendment thereto, the term "sanitary board", is used, there shall be substituted therefore the term "governing board", and said governing board shall have all the powers and authority, and perform all the duties formerly exercised and discharged by said sanitary board.

Sec. 16. Said board may appoint a clerk, and treasurer from its own members, and all warnings, notices, orders and by-laws may be signed by such clerk, and such clerk shall keep a record of all votes, orders and acts of said board. The treasurer shall keep an account of all moneys received and of all moneys expended, and shall report the same at the next annual meeting.