PA 490 and the conveyance penalty
Classification under PA 490 reduces assessment on qualifying farm, forest and open space land, and the saving is meaningful given Connecticut tax rates. The complication for a transaction is the conveyance penalty: selling classified land within ten years of its classification triggers a tax on a sliding scale, starting at ten percent of sale price in year one and declining to one percent by year ten.
Establish when the land was classified and what penalty, if any, applies to the sale. Negotiate who bears it explicitly.
Inland wetlands are a separate approval
Connecticut's inland wetlands commissions operate independently of planning and zoning. Their jurisdiction covers wetlands, watercourses and a regulated upland review area extending some distance from them, and activity within those areas requires a permit.
The practical consequence is that a parcel can be zoned for residential use and still be effectively unbuildable because the buildable area sits within regulated wetlands or the upland review area. Check with the town wetlands agent, not only the zoning office.
Town-level variation
Connecticut has no county government of consequence, and land use is governed municipally. Minimum lot sizes, subdivision standards and permitted uses vary sharply between adjacent towns.
Every question about buildability should be directed at the specific town, and answers from a neighbouring town's rules do not transfer.
What to verify
PA 490 classification date and conveyance penalty exposure. Inland wetlands mapping and upland review area. Town zoning, minimum lot size and subdivision regulations. Septic feasibility, which Connecticut regulates through local health districts. The risk scorecard covers the fundamentals.