(a) The Commissioner of Transportation, with the advice and consent of the Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management and the State Properties Review Board may sell, lease and convey, in the name of the state, or otherwise dispose of, or enter into agreements concerning, any land and buildings owned by the state and obtained for or in connection with highway purposes or for the efficient accomplishment of the foregoing purposes or formerly used for highway purposes, which real property is not necessary for such purposes. The commissioner shall notify the state representative and the state senator representing the municipality in which said property is located within one year of the date a determination is made that the property is not necessary for highway purposes and that the department intends to dispose of the property.

(b) The Department of Transportation shall obtain a full appraisal on excess property prior to its sale and shall hold a public bid or auction for all properties determined to be legal lots of record. If the department does not receive any bids at the initial public bid or auction, the department may continue to market the property and accept offers for sale or hold another bid or auction. Transfers to other state agencies and municipalities for purposes specified by the department shall be exempt from the appraisal requirement. The department shall offer parcels that are legal lots of record to other state agencies prior to a public bid or auction and shall offer parcels that are not legal lots of record to abutting landowners in accordance with department regulations. If the sale or transfer of property pursuant to this section results in the existing property of an abutting landowner becoming a nonconforming use, pursuant to local zoning requirements, the commissioner may sell or transfer the property to such abutting landowner without public bid or auction. The department shall obtain a second appraisal if the value of such property is more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars and is to be sold to an abutting landowner or in accordance with the provisions of subsection (c) of this section. Any appraisals shall be obtained prior to the determination of a sale price of the excess property.

(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 3-14b and 4b-21, no residential property upon which a single-family dwelling is situated at the time it is obtained by the department for highway purposes may be sold or transferred pursuant to this section within twenty-five years of the date of its acquisition without the department’s first offering the owner or owners of the property at the time of its acquisition a right of first refusal to purchase the property at the amount of its appraised value as determined in accordance with the provisions of subsection (b) of this section. Notice of such offer shall be sent to each such owner by registered or certified mail, return receipt requested, within one year of the date a determination is made that such property is not necessary for highway purposes. Any such offer shall be terminated by the department if it has not received written notice of the owner’s acceptance of the offer within sixty days of the date it was mailed. The commissioner shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, establishing procedures for the disposition of excess property pursuant to the provisions of this subsection in the event such property is owned by more than one person.

(d) Where the department has in good faith and with reasonable diligence attempted to ascertain the identity of persons entitled to notice under subsection (c) of this section and mailed notice to the last-known address of record of those ascertained, the failure to in fact notify those persons entitled thereto shall not invalidate any subsequent disposition of property pursuant to this section.