§ 11-38-101. Definitions and applicability.

The provisions of this article shall apply to all municipalities in this state except as otherwise provided.  The following terms whenever used or referred to in Sections 38-101 through 38-119 of this title shall have the following meanings, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context:

1.  "Authority" or "Urban Renewal Authority" shall mean a public body corporate created by Section 38-107 of this title;

2.  "Public body" shall mean the state or any incorporated city, town, board, commission, authority, district, or any subdivision or public body of the state;

3.  "Municipality" shall mean any incorporated city or town;

4.  "Municipal governing body" shall mean the council, board of trustees, or other body duly charged with governing a municipality;

5.  "Mayor" shall mean the mayor of a municipality or other officer or body having the duties customarily imposed upon the executive head of a municipality;

6.  "Clerk" shall mean the clerk or other official of a municipality who is the custodian of the official records of the municipality;

7.  "Federal Government" shall include the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America;

8.  "Blighted area" shall mean an area in which there are properties, buildings, or improvements, whether occupied or vacant, whether residential or nonresidential, which by reason of dilapidation, deterioration, age or obsolescence, inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation or open spaces; population overcrowding; improper subdivision or obsolete platting of land, inadequate parcel size; arrested economic development; improper street layout in terms of existing or projected traffic needs, traffic congestion or lack of parking or terminal facilities needed for existing or proposed land uses in the area, predominance of defective or inadequate street layouts; faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness; insanitary or unsafe conditions, deterioration of site or other improvements; diversity of ownership, tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land; defective or unusual conditions of title; any one or combination of such conditions which substantially impair or arrest the sound growth of municipalities, or constitutes an economic or social liability, or which endangers life or property by fire or other causes, or is conducive to ill health, transmission of disease, mortality, juvenile delinquency, or crime and by reason thereof, is detrimental to the public health, safety, morals or welfare;

9.  "Urban renewal project" or "redevelopment project" may include undertakings and activities of a municipality, an urban renewal authority, redevelopment corporation, person or other corporation, in an urban renewal area for the elimination and for the prevention of the development or spread of blight, and may involve clearance and redevelopment in an urban renewal area, or rehabilitation or conservation in an urban renewal area, or any combination or part thereof in accordance with an urban renewal plan.

Such undertakings may include:  (a)  acquisition of a blighted area or portions thereof; (b)  demolition and removal of buildings and improvements; (c)  installation, construction or reconstruction of streets, off-street parking facilities, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other improvements necessary for carrying out in the urban renewal area the urban renewal objectives of this article in accordance with the urban renewal plan; (d)  disposition of any property for uses in the urban renewal area or the leasing or retention of such property for uses in accordance with the urban renewal plan; (e) carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements in accordance with the urban renewal plan; or (f) acquisition of any other real property in the area where necessary to eliminate unhealthful, insanitary or unsafe conditions, lessen density, eliminate obsolete or other uses detrimental to the public welfare, or otherwise to remove or prevent the spread of blight or deterioration, or to provide land for needed public facilities;

10.  "Urban renewal area" means a blighted area within which the governing body of a municipality designates an area appropriate for an urban renewal project;

11.  "Urban renewal plan" means a plan officially adopted by the municipal governing body, as it exists or is changed from time to time, for an urban renewal project, which plan shall:  (a) conform to the general plan for the municipality as a whole except as provided in subsection I of Section 38-106(e) of this title; and (b) be sufficiently complete to indicate such land acquisition, demolition and removal of structures, redevelopment, improvements, and rehabilitation as may be proposed to be carried out in the urban renewal area, zoning and planning changes, if any, land uses, maximum densities, building requirements, and the plan's relationship to definite local objectives respecting appropriate land uses, traffic, public transportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities, and other public improvements, and plans for financing the project, and plans for the relocation of families and businesses to be displaced;

12.  "Real property" shall include all lands, including improvements and fixtures thereon, and property of any nature appurtenant thereto, or used in connection therewith, and every estate, interest, right and use, legal or equitable, therein, including terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise;

13.  "Notes" shall mean any notes (including refunding notes), interim certificates of indebtedness, debentures or other obligations;

14.  "Obligee" shall include any bondholder, agents or trustees for any bondholders, or lessor demising to the municipality property used in connection with an urban renewal project, or any assignee or assignees of such lessor's interest or any part thereof, and the Federal Government when it is a party to any contract with the Urban Renewal Authority or the municipality;

15.  "Person" shall mean any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or body politic; and shall include any trustee, receiver, assignee, or other person acting in a similar representative capacity;

16.  "Area of operation" shall mean the area within the corporate limits of the municipality;

17.  "Board" or "Commission" shall mean a board, commission, department, division, office, body or other unit of the municipality;

18.  "Public officer" shall mean any officer who is in charge of any department or branch of the government of a municipality relating to health, fire, building regulations, or to other activities concerning dwellings in its area of operation; and

19.  "Redevelopment corporation" shall mean a corporation organized under the provisions of Section 38-117 of this title.

Laws 1977, c. 256, § 38-101, eff. July 1, 1978.