This Feature Class was created in 2014 as a part of the State of Connecticut’s Policy Intergovernmental Policy Division grant to the Southern Connecticut Regional Council of Governments for the Regional Web-Based GIS program. The parcel layer development was started in 2003 by the Regional Water Authority and received by the Town of North Branford in 2004. It was created in NAD 83 State Plane Coordinate System. The parcel layer was digitized from the Town of North Branfords tax and assessor maps. North Branford partnered with SCRWA to conduct a fly-over in 1999 producing aerial imagery. These aerials were used as the basemap. Updates are done on a yearly basis.

This feature service is available through CT ECO, a partnership between UConn CLEAR and CT DEEP. It is also available as a map service and a tiled map service. This dataset is a statewide service of municipal parcels (properties) including their geometry (polygon shape) and attributes (tabular information about each parcel). In order to preserve the attributes, each municipality is added individually to the service.

See full Data Guide here. Connecticut Parcels for Protected Open Space Mapping is a polygon feature-based layer that includes basic parcel-level information for some towns in Connecticut. This 2009 parcel layer includes information provided by individual municipalities. These parcel data are incomplete and out of date. The accuracy, currency and completeness of the data reflect the content of the data at the time DEEP acquired the data from the individual municipalities. Attribute information is comprised of values such as town name and map lot block number. These data are not updated by CT DEEP and should only be used as a general reference. Critical decisions involving parcel-level information should be based on more recently acquired information from the respective municipalities. These parcels are not to be considered legal boundaries such as boundaries determined from certain classified survey maps or deed descriptions. Parcel boundaries shown in this layer are based on information from municipalities used for property tax purposes. Largely due to differences in horizontal accuracy among various data layers, do not expect these parcel boundaries to line up exactly with or be properly postioned relative to features shown on other layers available from CT DEEP such as scanned USGS topography quadrangle maps, roads, hydrography, town boundaries, and even orthophotograpy.

The data in the parcel layer was obtained from individual Connecticut municipalities. An effort was made to collect data once from each municipality. The data acquisition date for each set of municipally-supplied parcel data was not recorded and CT DEEP does not keep this information up-to-date. Consequently, these data are out-of-date, incomplete and do not reflect the current state of property ownership in these municipalities. These parcels are not to be considered legal boundaries such as boundaries determined from certain classified survey maps or deed descriptions. Parcel boundaries shown in this layer are based on information from municipalities used for property tax purposes. Parcel boundaries and attribute information have not been updated in this layer since the time the information was originally acquired by CT DEEP. For example, property boundaries are incorrect where subdivisions have occurred. Also, field attribute values are populated only if the information was supplied to CT DEEP. For example, parcels in some towns lack location (street name) information or possibly map lot block values. Therefore, field attributes are inconsistent, may include gaps, and do not represent complete sets of values among all towns. They should not be compared and analyzed across towns. It is emphasized that critical decisions involving parcel-level information be based on more recently obtained information from the respective municipalities. These data are only suitable for general reference purposes. Be cautious when using these data. Many Connecticut municipalities provide access to more up-to-date and more detailed property ownership information on the Internet. This dataset includes parcel information for the following towns: Andover, Ansonia, Ashford, Avon, Beacon Falls, Berlin, Bethany, Bethel, Bethlehem, Bloomfield, Bolton, Branford, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Brooklyn, Canaan, Canterbury, Canton, Chaplin, Cheshire, Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Colebrook, Columbia, Cornwall, Coventry, Cromwell, Danbury, Darien, Deep River, Derby, East Granby, East Haddam, East Hampton, East Hartford, East Lyme, East Windsor, Eastford, Ellington, Enfield, Essex, Farmington, Franklin, Glastonbury, Granby, Greenwich, Griswold, Groton, Guilford, Haddam, Hamden, Hartford, Hebron, Kent, Killingly, Killingworth, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Litchfield, Lyme, Madison, Manchester, Mansfield, Marlborough, Meriden, Middlebury, Middlefield, Middletown, Milford, Monroe, Montville, Morris, New Britain, New Canaan, New Hartford, New Haven, New London, New Milford, Newington, Newtown, Norfolk, North Branford, North Canaan, North Haven, North Stonington, Norwalk, Norwich, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Orange, Oxford, Plainfield, Plainville, Plymouth, Pomfret, Portland, Preston, Prospect, Putnam, Redding, Rocky Hill, Roxbury, Salem, Salisbury, Scotland, Seymour, Sharon, Shelton, Sherman, Simsbury, Somers, South Windsor, Southbury, Southington, Sprague, Stamford, Sterling, Stonington, Stratford, Suffield, Thomaston, Tolland, Torrington, Union, Vernon, Voluntown, Wallingford, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Waterford, Watertown, West Hartford, West Haven, Westbrook, Westport, Wethersfield, Willington, Wilton, Winchester, Windsor, Windsor Locks, Wolcott, Woodbridge, Woodbury, and Woodstock. For additional information on the Protected Open Space Mapping project, contact the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Division of Land Acquisition and Management at 860-424-3016.

See full Data Guide here. This layer includes polygon features that depict protected open space for towns of the Protected Open Space Mapping (POSM) project, which is administered by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, Land Acquisition and Management. Only parcels that meet the criteria of protected open space as defined in the POSM project are in this layer. Protected open space is defined as: (1) Land or interest in land acquired for the permanent protection of natural features of the state's landscape or essential habitat for endangered or threatened species; or (2) Land or an interest in land acquired to permanently support and sustain non-facility-based outdoor recreation, forestry and fishery activities, or other wildlife or natural resource conservation or preservation activities. Includes protected open space data for the towns of Andover, Ansonia, Ashford, Avon, Beacon Falls, Canaan, Clinton, Berlin, Bethany, Bethel, Bethlehem, Bloomfield, Bridgewater, Bolton, Brookfield, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Canton, Chaplin, Cheshire, Colchester, Colebrook, Columbia, Cornwall, Coventry, Cromwell, Danbury, Derby, East Granby, East Haddam, East Hampton, East Hartford, East Windsor, Eastford, Ellington, Enfield, Essex, Farmington, Franklin, Glastonbury, Goshen, Granby, Griswold, Groton, Guilford, Haddam, Hampton, Hartford, Hebron, Kent, Killingworth, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Litchfield, Madison, Manchester, Mansfield, Marlborough, Meriden, Middlebury, Middlefield, Middletown, Monroe, Montville, Morris, New Britain, New Canaan, New Fairfield, New Milford, New Hartford, Newington, Newtown, Norfolk, North, Norwich, Preston, Ridgefield, Shelton, Stonington, Oxford, Plainfield, Plainville, Pomfret, Portland, Prospect, Putnam, Redding, Rocky Hill, Roxbury, Salem, Salisbury, Scotland, Seymour, Sharon, Sherman, Simsbury, Somers, South Windsor, Southbury, Southington, Sprague, Sterling, Suffield, Thomaston, Thompson, Tolland, Torrington, Union, Vernon, Wallingford, Windham, Warren, Washington, Waterbury, Watertown, West Hartford, Westbrook, Weston, Wethersfield, Willington, Wilton, Windsor, Windsor Locks, Wolcott, Woodbridge, Woodbury, and Woodstock. Additional towns are added to this list as they are completed. The layer is based on information from various sources collected and compiled during the period from March 2005 through the present. These sources include but are not limited to municipal Assessor's records (the Assessor's database, hard copy maps and deeds) and existing digital parcel data. The layer represents conditions as of the date of research at each city or town hall. The Protected Open Space layer includes the parcel shape (geometry), a project-specific parcel ID based on the Town and Town Assessor's lot numbering system, and system-defined (automatically generated) fields. The Protected Open Space layer has an accompanying table containing more detailed information about each feature (parcel). This table is called Protected Open Space Dat, and can be joined to Protected Open Space in ArcMap using the parcel ID (PAR_ID) field. Detailed information in the Protected Open Space Data attribute table includes the Assessor's Map, Block and Lot numbers (the Assessor's parcel identification numbering system), the official name of the parcel (such as the park or forest name if it has one), address and owner information, the deed volume and page numbers, survey information, open space type, the unique parcel ID number (Par_ID), comments collected by researchers during city/town hall visits, and acreage. This layer does not include parcels that do not meet the definition of open space as defined above. Features are stored as polygons that represent the best available locational information, and are "best fit" to the land base available for each.

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection's (CTDEP) Permanently Protected Open Space Phase Mapping Project Phase 1 (Protected Open Space Phase1) layer includes permanently protected open space parcels in towns in Phase 1 that meet the CTDEP's definition for this project, the Permanently Protected Open Space Mapping (CT POSM) Project. The CTDEP defines permanently protected open space as (1) Land or interest in land acquired for the permanent protection of natural features of the state's landscape or essential habitat for endangered or threatened species; or (2) Land or an interest in land acquired to permanently support and sustain non facility-based outdoor recreations, forestry and fishery activities, or other wildlife or natural resource conservation or preservation activities.

Towns in Phase 1 of the CT POSM project are situated along the CT coast and portions of the Thames River and are the following: Branford, Bridgeport, Chester, Clinton, Darien, Deep River, East Haven, East Lyme, Essex, Fairfield, Greenwich, Groton, Guilford, Hamden, Ledyard, Lyme, Madison, Milford, Montville, New Haven, New London, North Branford, North Haven, Norwalk, Norwich, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Orange, Preston, Shelton, Stamford, Stonington, Stratford, Waterford, West Haven, Westbrook, Westport.

For the purposes of the project a number of categories or classifications of open space have also been created. These include: Land Trust, Land Trust with buidlings, Private, Private with buildings, Utility Company, Utility Company with buildings, Federal, State, Municipal, Municipal with buildings, Conservation easement, and non-DEP State land. The layer is based on information from various sources collected and compiled during the period from August 2002 trhough October 2003. These sources include municipal Assessor's records (the Assessor's database, hard copy maps and deeds) and existing digital parcel data. The layer represents conditions on the date of research at each city or town hall.

The Protected Open Space Phase1 layer includes the parcel shape (geometry), a project-specific parcel ID based on the Town and Town's Assessor lot numbering system, and system-defined (automatically generated) fields. In addition, the Protected_Open_Space_Phase1 layer has an accompanying table containing more detailed information about each parcel's collection, standardization and storage. This table is called Protected Open Space Phase1 Data and can be joined to Protected Open Space Phase1 in ArcMap using the parcel ID (PAR_ID) field. Detailed information includes the Assessor's Map, Block and Lot numbers (the Assessor's parcel identification numbering system), the official name of the parcel (such as the park or forest name if it has one), address and owner information, the deed volume and page numbers, survey information, open space type, the project-specific parcel ID number (Par_ID), comments collected by researchers during city/town hall visits, acreage collected during site reconaissance and the data source. This layer does not include parcels that do not meet the definition of open space as defined above. Features are stored as polygon feature type that represent the best available locational information, i.e. "best fit" to the land base available for each.

Phase 1 of the Protected Open Space Mapping (POSM) Project was accomplished by a contractor using only a querying process to identify open space. The contractor obtained assessor's data from the various towns and created programs to cull open space parcels strictly by query processes. We have found many errors and omissions in the data, but at this point in the project we cannot revisit all the coastal towns. Therefore, this data is being sent with a disclaimer for accuracy. You are welcome to use it but not to publish it. Please note that we do not include any water company parcels despite them being listed as part of our criteria because we must first obtain written clarification and clearance from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

We have since changed our data collection method for Phase 2 of this project. DEP staff now visit each town hall and thoroughly research the land records. The project is expected to be complete by 2010.

This GIS overlay is a component of the Branford Survey, Long Island Sound, ArcView GIS database and contains the geologic interpretion of the sidescan sonar mosaic for the study area. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, has produced detailed geologic maps of the sea floor in Long Island Sound, a major East Coast estuary surrounded by the most densely populated region of the United States. These studies have built upon cooperative research with the State of Connecticut that was initiated in 1982. The current phase of this research program is directed toward studies of sea-floor sediment distribution, processes that control sediment distribution, nearshore environmental concerns, and the relation of benthic community structures to the sea-floor geology. Anthropogenic wastes, toxic chemicals, and changes in land-use patterns resulting from residential, commercial, and recreational development have stressed the environment of the Sound, causing degradation and potential loss of benthic habitats (Koppelman and others, 1976; Long Island Sound Study, 1994). Detailed maps of the sea floor are needed to help evaluate the extent of adverse impacts and to help manage resources wisely in the future. Therefore, in a continuing effort to better understand Long Island Sound, we have constructed and interpreted sidescan sonar mosaics (complete-coverage acoustic images of the sea floor) within specific areas of special interest (Poppe and Polloni, 1998; fig. 1). The mosaic presented herein covers a 41.1 km square area of the sea floor in north-central Long Island Sound off Branford, Connecticut. The mosaics and their interpretations serve many purposes, including: (1) defining the geological variability of the sea floor, which is one of the primary controls of benthic habitat diversity; (2) improving our understanding of the processes that control the distribution and transport of bottom sediments and the distribution of benthic habitats and associated infaunal community structures; and (3) providing a detailed framework for future research, monitoring, and management activities. The sidescan sonar mosaics also serve as base maps for subsequent sedimentological, geochemical, and biological observations, because precise information on environmental setting is important for selection of sampling sites and for accurate interpretation of points.View Dataset on the Gateway

The Coastal Area layer is a 1:24,000-scale, polygon feature-based layer that includes the land and waters that lie within the Coastal Area as defined by Connecticut General Statute (C.G.S.) 22a-94(a). Activities and actions conducted within the coastal area by Federal and State Agencies (i.e., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE), DEP regulatory programs, and state plans and actions) must be consistent with all of the applicable standards and criteria contained in the Connecticut Coastal Management Act (C.G.S. 22a-90 to 22a-113). A subset of the Coastal Area, the Coastal Boundary, represents an area within which activities regulated or conducted by coastal municipalities must be consistent with the Coastal Management Act. As defined in this section of the statutes, the Coastal Area includes the land and water within the area delineated by the following: the westerly, southerly and easterly limits of the state's jurisdiction in Long Island Sound; the towns of Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Norwalk, Westport, Fairfield, Bridgeport, Stratford, Shelton, Milford, Orange, West Haven, New Haven, Hamden, North Haven, East Haven, Branford, Guilford, Madison, Clinton, Westbrook, Deep River, Chester, Essex, Old Saybrook, Lyme, Old Lyme, East Lyme, Waterford, New London, Montville, Norwich, Preston, Ledyard, Groton and Stonington. This layer includes a single polygon feature defined by the boundaries described above. Attribute information is comprised of an Av_Legend to denote the coastal area. Data is compiled at 1:24,000 scale. This data is not updated.