§ 11-38-117. Organization of urban redevelopment corporations - Powers, duties and obligations.

A.  Corporations referred to in this article as urban redevelopment corporations shall be organized in the following manner: The articles of agreement or association shall be prepared, subscribed and acknowledged, and filed in the office of the Secretary of State pursuant to the general corporation laws of the state and shall contain:  (1) The name of the proposed corporation, which must have the words "redevelopment corporation" as a part thereof; (2) The purposes for which it is formed, which shall be to acquire, construct, maintain and operate a redevelopment project or redevelopment projects in accordance with the provisions of this article; (3) The amount of the capital stock, and if any be preferred stock, the preference thereof; (4) The number of shares of which the capital shall consist, all of which shall have a par value; (5) The municipality in which its principal business office is to be located; (6) Its duration, which shall not exceed ninety-nine (99) years; (7) The number of directors, which shall not be less than three (3), nor more than thirteen (13); (8) The names and post office addresses of the directors for the first year, at least one of whom shall be a resident of the State of Oklahoma; (9) The names and post office addresses of the subscribers to the articles of association or agreement; (10) A provision that in the event that income debenture certificates are issued by a corporation, the owners thereof shall have the same right to vote as they would have if possessed of certificates of stock of the amount and par value of the income debenture certificates held by them. The articles may provide for the retirement of income debenture certificates or preferred stock of the corporation as and when there shall be funds available in the treasury of the corporation from the receipt of amortization of sinking fund installments for that purpose; and (11) A declaration that the corporation has been organized to serve a public purpose; that all real estate acquired by it and all structures erected by it are to be acquired for the purpose of promoting the public health, safety, and welfare, and that such corporation is organized for the purpose of clearing, replanning, reconstructing or rehabilitating blighted areas, and the construction of such industrial, commercial, residential or public structure as may be appropriate including provisions for recreational and other facilities incidental or appurtenant thereto. B.  No corporation now organized under the laws of this state shall change its name to a name, and no such corporation hereafter organized shall have a name, containing the word "redevelopment" as a part thereof except as provided in this article.  No foreign corporation now authorized to do business in this state shall change its name to a name, and no such corporation shall hereafter be authorized to do business in the state with a name, containing the word "redevelopment" as a part thereof.

C.  An urban redevelopment corporation may operate under this article on one or more redevelopment projects and, with respect to each such project, shall have such rights, powers, duties, and immunities and obligations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this article, as may be granted to it by an agreement to operate and to execute an urban renewal plan or any portion thereof.  The agreement to operate may be entered between the redevelopment corporation and any municipality or Urban Renewal Authority.  The agreement shall provide, among other things, that the corporation is to carry out the purposes of the urban renewal plan for the project area, and to devote such property as it may acquire, to uses specified in the urban renewal plan and shall contain provisions deemed to be necessary or desirable to assist in preventing the development or spread of future blight or otherwise carry out the purposes of this article.  The agreement shall contain such requirements as the municipality or Urban Renewal Authority may determine to be in the public interest, including the obligation to begin to execute the redevelopment plan within a reasonable time. The agreement to operate may provide that the redevelopment corporation is to prepare a renewal plan; however, execution of the plan shall not proceed until such plan is adopted by the municipality as required in this article.  The agreement may require the redevelopment corporation to furnish a performance bond for an amount to be determined by the municipality or the Urban Renewal Authority whichever the case may be.

D.  The provisions of the general corporation law, as presently in effect and as hereafter from time to time amended, shall apply to urban redevelopment corporations, except where such provisions are in conflict with the provisions of this article.

E.  In the event that any action with respect to which the holders of income debentures shall have the right to vote is proposed to be taken, notice of any meeting at which such action is proposed to be taken shall be given to such holders in the same manner and to the same extent as if they were stockholders entitled to notice of and to vote at such meeting.  Any articles filed pursuant to law in the office of the Secretary of State with respect to any such action, and any affidavit required by law to be annexed to such articles shall contain the same statements or recitals.  The articles shall be subscribed and acknowledged, and such affidavit shall be made, in the same manner as if such debenture holders were stockholders holding shares of an additional class of stock entitled to vote on such action, or with respect to the proceedings provided in such document.

F.  An urban redevelopment corporation shall establish and maintain depreciation, obsolescence, and other reserves, also surplus and other accounts, including, among others, a reserve for the payment of taxes according to recognized standard accounting practices.

G.  No urban redevelopment corporation shall pay any interest on its income debentures or dividends on its stock during any dividend year unless there shall exist at the time of such payment no default under any amortization requirements with respect to its indebtedness, or unless all accrued interest, taxes and other public charges shall have been duly paid or reserves set up for payment therefor, and adequate reserves provided for depreciation, obsolescence and other proper reserves.

H.  The real property, title of which is vested in an urban redevelopment corporation, shall be subject to the payment of general ad valorem taxes imposed by the state or any political subdivision thereof.

I.  Notwithstanding any requirement of law to the contrary, or the absence of direct provision therefor in the instrument under which a fiduciary is acting, any of the following persons, partnerships, or corporations, and public bodies or public officers, owning or holding any real property within any blighted area proposed to be cleared or redeveloped by an urban redevelopment corporation, may grant, sell, lease or otherwise transfer any such real property to an urban redevelopment corporation, and receive and hold any cash, mortgages, or other securities or obligations exchanged therefor by such urban redevelopment corporation, and may execute such instruments and do such acts as may be deemed necessary or desirable by them or to and by the urban redevelopment corporation in connection with the execution of any urban renewal plan: (1) Every executor, administrator, trustee, guardian or any other person holding trust funds or acting in a fiduciary capacity, unless the instrument under which such fiduciary is acting expressly forbids; (2) The state, its subdivisions, municipalities, all other public bodies, and all public officers; (3) Persons, partnerships and corporations, organized under or subject to the provisions of the banking and trust laws (including savings banks, savings and loan associations, trust companies, private bankers and private banking corporations); (4) The State Bank Commissioner or the Commissioner of Securities as conservator, liquidator, or rehabilitator of any such person, partnership, or corporation.

J.  An urban redevelopment corporation may acquire real property or secure options in its own name or in the name of nominees, or it may acquire real property by gift, grant, lease, purchase, lease-purchase, or otherwise.

K.  When title to real property has been vested in an urban redevelopment corporation, the urban redevelopment corporation may agree with the previous owners of such property, or any tenants continuing to occupy or use it, or any other persons who may occupy or use or seek to occupy or use such property, that such former owner, tenant, or other persons may occupy or use such property upon the payment periodically of an agreed sum of money.  Such occupation or use shall not be construed as a tenancy from month to month, nor require the giving of notice by the urban redevelopment corporation for the termination of such occupation or use of the right to such occupation or use, but immediately upon the expiration of the term for which payment has been made the urban redevelopment corporation shall be entitled to possession of the real property and may maintain an action for either unlawful detainer or ejectment for the purpose of recovering immediate possession thereof.

L.  An urban redevelopment corporation may borrow funds and secure the repayment thereof by mortgage which shall contain reasonable amortization provisions and shall be a lien upon no other real property except that forming the whole or a part of a single development area.  Certificates, bonds and notes, or part interest therein, or any part of an issue thereof, which are secured by a first mortgage on the real property in an urban renewal area, or any part thereof, shall be securities in which all the following persons, partnerships, or corporations and public bodies or public officers may legally invest the funds within their control: (1) Every executor, administrator, trustee, guardian, committee or other person or corporation holding trust funds or acting in a fiduciary capacity; (2) Persons, partnerships and corporations organized under or subject to the provisions of the banking law (including savings banks, savings and loan associations and trust companies); (3) The State Bank Commissioner or the Commissioner of Securities as conservator, liquidator, or rehabilitator of any such person, partnership or corporation; (4) Persons, partnerships, or corporations organized under or subject to the provisions of the insurance law; (5) Fraternal benefit societies; and (6) The State Commissioner of Insurance as conservator, liquidator, or rehabilitator of any such person, partnership or corporation.  Any mortgage on the real property in an urban renewal area, or any part thereof, may create a first lien, or a second or other junior lien, upon such real property.

M.  Any urban redevelopment corporation may lease, sell, grant, dedicate or otherwise dispose of any or all of the real property acquired by it for the purposes of a redevelopment project.  In the event of the sale by reason of foreclosure or other disposition of real property of any urban redevelopment corporation by voluntary transfer or otherwise, or by reason of the foreclosure of any mortgage or other lien, through insolvency or bankruptcy proceedings, by order of any court of competent jurisdiction, by voluntary transfer or otherwise, the purchaser of such real property of such redevelopment corporation shall continue to use, operate and maintain such real property in accordance with the provisions of the urban renewal plan.

N.  Any urban redevelopment corporation may accept grants or loans of money from the Federal Government or any department or agency thereof.

O.  Any corporation organized under the laws of the State of Oklahoma, or admitted to do business in the State of Oklahoma, shall have power to purchase shares of stock of an urban redevelopment corporation organized under the provisions of this article.

Laws 1977, c. 256, § 38-117, eff. July 1, 1978.