TITLE 50

MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS

CHAPTER 20

URBAN RENEWAL LAW

50-2018.  Definitions. The following terms wherever used or referred to in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context:

(1)  "Agency" or "urban renewal agency" shall mean a public agency created by section 50-2006, Idaho Code.

(2)  "Municipality" shall mean any incorporated city or town, or county in the state.

(3)  "Public body" shall mean the state or any municipality, township, board, commission, authority, district, or any other subdivision or public body of the state.

(4)  "Local governing body" shall mean the council or other legislative body charged with governing the 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 the municipality who is the custodian of the official records of such 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)  "Deteriorated area" shall mean an area in which there is a predominance of buildings or improvements, whether residential or nonresidential, which by reason of dilapidation, deterioration, age or obsolescence, inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation, or open spaces, high density of population and overcrowding, or the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causes, or any combination of such factors is conducive to ill health, transmission of disease, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, or crime, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, morals or welfare. Provided however, this definition shall not apply to any agricultural operation, as defined in section 22-4502(2), Idaho Code, absent the consent of the owner of the agricultural operation or to any forest land as defined in section 63-1701(4), Idaho Code, absent the consent of the forest landowner, as defined in section 63-1701(5), Idaho Code, except for an agricultural operation or forest land that has not been used for three (3) consecutive years.

(9)  "Deteriorating area" shall mean an area which by reason of the presence of a substantial number of deteriorated or deteriorating structures, predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, 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, or the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causes, or any combination of such factors, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of a municipality, retards the provision of housing accommodations or constitutes an economic or social liability and is a menace to the public health, safety, morals or welfare in its present condition and use; provided, that if such deteriorating area consists of open land the conditions contained in the proviso in section 50-2008(d), Idaho Code, shall apply; and provided further, that any disaster area referred to in section 50-2008(g), Idaho Code, shall constitute a deteriorating area. Provided however, this definition shall not apply to any agricultural operation, as defined in section 22-4502(2), Idaho Code, absent the consent of the owner of the agricultural operation or to any forest land as defined in section 63-1701(4), Idaho Code, absent the consent of the forest landowner, as defined in section 63-1701(5), Idaho Code, except for an agricultural operation or forest land that has not been used for three (3) consecutive years.

(10) "Urban renewal project" may include undertakings and activities of a municipality in an urban renewal area for the elimination of deteriorated or deteriorating areas and for the prevention of the development or spread of slums and blight, and may involve slum 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 and activities may include:

(a)  Acquisition of a deteriorated area or a deteriorating area or portion thereof;

(b)  Demolition and removal of buildings and improvements;

(c)  Installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, off-street parking facilities, public facilities or buildings and other improvements necessary for carrying out in the urban renewal area the urban renewal objectives of this chapter in accordance with the urban renewal plan;

(d)  Disposition of any property acquired in the urban renewal area, including sale, initial leasing or retention by the agency itself, at its fair value for uses in accordance with the urban renewal plan except for disposition of property to another public body;

(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;

(f)  Acquisition of real property in the urban renewal area which, under the urban renewal plan, is to be repaired or rehabilitated for dwelling use or related facilities, repair or rehabilitation of the structures for guidance purposes, and resale of the property;

(g)  Acquisition of any other real property in the urban renewal 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 to prevent the spread of blight or deterioration, or to provide land for needed public facilities;

(h)  Lending or investing federal funds; and

(i)  Construction of foundations, platforms and other like structural forms.

(11) "Urban renewal area" means a deteriorated area or a deteriorating area or a combination thereof which the local governing body designates as appropriate for an urban renewal project.

(12) "Urban renewal plan" means a plan, as it exists from time to time, for an urban renewal project, which plan:

(a)  Shall conform to the general plan for the municipality as a whole except as provided in section 50-2008(g), Idaho Code; and

(b)  Shall 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 any method or methods of financing such plan, which methods may include revenue allocation financing provisions.

(13) "Related activities" shall mean:

(a)  Planning work for the preparation or completion of a community-wide plan or program pursuant to section 50-2009, Idaho Code; and

(b)  The functions related to the acquisition and disposal of real property pursuant to section 50-2007(d), Idaho Code.

(14) "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.

(15) "Bonds" shall mean any bonds, including refunding bonds, notes, interim certificates, certificates of indebtedness, debentures or other obligations.

(16) "Obligee" shall include any bondholder, agents or trustees for any bondholders, or lessor demising to the municipality property used in connection with urban renewal, 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 municipality.

(17) "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.

(18) "Area of operation" shall mean the area within the corporate limits of the municipality and the area within five (5) miles of such limits, except that it shall not include any area which lies within the territorial boundaries of another incorporated city or town or within the unincorporated area of the county unless a resolution shall have been adopted by the governing body of such other city, town or county declaring a need therefor.

(19) "Board" or "commission" shall mean a board, commission, department, division, office, body or other unit of the municipality.

(20) "Public officer" shall mean any officer who is in charge of any department or branch of the government of the municipality relating to health, fire, building regulations, or to other activities concerning dwellings in the municipality.

History:

[50-2018, added 1965, ch. 246, sec. 18, p. 600; am. 1970, ch. 103, sec. 1, p. 256; am. 1987, ch. 258, sec. 1, p. 525; am. 1987, ch. 259, sec. 4, p. 542; am. 1990, ch. 430, sec. 2, p. 1186; am. 2003, ch. 146, sec. 1, p. 420; am. 2006, ch. 310, sec. 1, p. 953; am. 2011, ch. 229, sec. 6, p. 625; am. 2011, ch. 317, sec. 4, p. 916.]