Sec. 16-234. Rights of adjoining proprietors. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 16-234. Rights of adjoining proprietors. No telegraph, telephone or electric light company or association, nor any company or association engaged in distributing electricity by wires or similar conductors or in using an electric wire or conductor for any purpose, shall exercise any powers which may have been conferred upon it to change the location of, or to erect or place, wires, conductors, fixtures, structures or apparatus of any kind over, on or under any highway or public ground, without the consent of the adjoining proprietors, or, if such company or association is unable to obtain such consent, without the approval of the Department of Public Utility Control, which shall be given only after a hearing upon notice to such proprietors; or to cut or trim any tree on or overhanging any highway or public ground, without the consent of the owner thereof, or, if such company or association is unable to obtain such consent, without the approval of the tree warden or the consent of the department, which consent shall be given only after a hearing upon notice to such owner; but the department may, if it finds that public convenience and necessity require, authorize the changing of the location of, or the erection or placing of, such wires, conductors, fixtures, structures or apparatus over, on or under such highway or public ground; and the tree warden in any town or the department may, if he or it finds that public convenience and necessity require, authorize the cutting and trimming and the keeping trimmed of any brush or tree in such town on or overhanging such highway or public ground, which action shall be taken only after notice and hearing as aforesaid, which hearing shall be held within a reasonable time after the application therefor.

      (1949 Rev., S. 5645; P.A. 75-486, S. 1, 69; P.A. 77-614, S. 162, 610; P.A. 80-482, S. 102, 348.)

      History: P.A. 75-486 replaced public utilities commission with public utilities control authority; P.A. 77-614 replaced public utilities control authority with division of public utility control within the department of business regulation, effective January 1, 1979; P.A. 80-482 made division an independent department and deleted reference to abolished department of business regulation.

      See Secs. 16-11 and 16-18 re powers of Department of Public Utility Control.

      See Sec. 16-236 re appraisal of damages and assessment of costs.

      See Sec. 23-65 re defacement, pruning or removal of trees.

      In use of public streets for transmission of electric currents, high degree of care is required. 67 C. 445; 70 C. 65; 75 C. 548; 80 C. 470. See 91 C. 563. Right of telephone company in street; effect of consent by abutting owners; mere maintenance of line illegally would not justify injunctive relief. 90 C. 182; 92 C. 635. Cited. 161 C. 430. Cited. 162 C. 93. A railroad's right-of-way is not a "highway" as contemplated by this section. 168 C. 478. The term "adjoining proprietors" as used in this section means owners of property contiguous to the highway or public ground over, on or under which the transmission line or other facility in question is erected or placed. Id.