In this article the following words have the
meanings indicated:
An area in which a majority of buildings have declined in
productivity by reason of obsolescence, depreciation or other causes
to an extent they no longer justify fundamental repairs and adequate
maintenance.
Any bonds (including refunding bonds), notes, interim certificates,
certificates of indebtedness, debentures or other obligations.
The United States of America or any agency or instrumentality,
corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America.
A municipal corporation of this state.
Any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company,
association, joint-stock association, or body politic. It includes
any trustee, receiver, assignee, or other person acting in similar
representative capacity.
Any area where dwellings predominate which, by reason of
depreciation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement or design, lack of
ventilation, light or sanitary facilities, or any combination of these
factors, are detrimental to the public safety, health or morals.
A slum area or a blighted area or a combination of them which
the municipality designates as appropriate for an urban renewal project.
A plan, as it exists from time to time, for an urban renewal
project. The plan shall be sufficiently complete to indicate whatever
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 density and building requirements.
Undertakings and activities of a municipality in an urban
renewal area for the elimination 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 of them in accordance
with an urban renewal plan. These undertakings and activities may
include:
Acquisition of a slum area or a blighted area
or portion of them;
Demolition and removal of buildings and improvements;
Installation, construction or reconstruction
of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other improvements
necessary for carrying out the urban renewal objectives of this article
in accordance with the urban renewal plan;
Disposition of any property acquired in the
urban renewal area, including sale, initial leasing or retention by
the municipality itself, at its fair value for uses in accordance
with the urban renewal plan;
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;
Acquisition of any other real property in the
urban renewal area where necessary to eliminate unhealthful, unsanitary
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; and
The preservation, improvement or embellishment
of historic structures or monuments.
A.
The municipality may undertake and carry out urban
renewal projects.
B.
These projects shall be limited:
(1)
To slum clearance in slum or blighted areas and redevelopment
or the rehabilitation of slum or blighted areas;
(2)
To acquire in connection with those projects, within
the corporate limits of the municipality, land and property of every
kind and any right, interest, franchise, easement or privilege, including
land or property and any right or interest already devoted to public
use, by purchase, lease, gift, condemnation or any other legal means;
(3)
To sell, lease, convey, transfer or otherwise dispose
of any of the land or property, regardless of whether or not it has
been developed, redeveloped, altered or improved and irrespective
of the manner or means in or by which it may have been acquired, to
any private, public or quasi-public corporation, partnership, association,
person or other legal entity.
C.
Land or property taken by the municipality for any
of these purposes or in connection with the exercise of any of the
powers which are granted by this article to the municipality by exercising
its power of eminent domain may not be taken without just compensation,
as agreed upon between the parties, or awarded by a jury, being first
paid or tendered to the party entitled to the compensation.
D.
All land or property needed or taken by the exercise
of the power of eminent domain by the municipality for any of these
purposes or in connection with the exercise of any of the powers granted
by this article is declared to be needed or taken for public uses
and purposes.
E.
Any or all of the activities authorized pursuant to
this article constitute governmental functions undertaken for public
uses and purposes and the power of taxation may be exercised, public
funds expended and public credit extended in furtherance of them.
The municipality has the following additional
powers. These powers are declared to be necessary and proper to carry
into full force and effect the specific powers granted in this article
and to fully accomplish the purposes and objects contemplated by the
provisions of this section:
A.
To make or have made all surveys and plans necessary
to the carrying out of the purposes of this article and to adopt or
approve, modify and amend those plans. These plans may include, but
are not limited to:
(1)
Plans for carrying out a program of voluntary or compulsory
repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements;
(2)
Plans for the enforcement of codes and regulations
relating to the use of land and the use and occupancy of buildings
and improvements and to the compulsory repair, rehabilitation, demolition,
or removal of buildings and improvements; and
(3)
Appraisals, title searches, surveys, studies, and
other plans and work necessary to prepare for the undertaking of urban
renewal projects and related activities; and to apply for, accept
and utilize grants of funds from the federal government or other governmental
entity for those purposes;
B.
To prepare plans for the relocation of persons (including
families, business concerns and others) displaced from an urban renewal
area, and to make relocation payments to or with respect to those
persons for moving expenses and losses of property for which reimbursement
or compensation is not otherwise made, including the making of payments
financed by the federal government;
C.
To appropriate whatever funds and make whatever expenditures
as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this article, including,
but not limited:
(1)
To the payment of any and all costs and expenses incurred
in connection with, or incidental to, the acquisition of land or property,
and for the demolition, removal, relocation, renovation or alteration
of land, buildings, streets, highways, alleys, utilities or services,
and other structures or improvements, and for the construction, reconstruction,
installation, relocation or repair of streets, highways, alleys, utilities
or services, in connection with urban renewal projects;
(2)
To levy taxes and assessments for those purposes;
(3)
To borrow money and to apply for and accept advances,
loans, grants, contributions and any other form of financial assistance
from the federal government, the state, county or other public bodies,
or from any sources, public or private, for the purposes of this article,
and to give whatever security as may be required for this financial
assistance; and
(4)
To invest any urban renewal funds held in reserves
or sinking funds or any of these funds not required for immediate
disbursement in property or securities which are legal investments
for other municipal funds;
D.
Acquired property.
(1)
To hold, improve, clear or prepare for redevelopment
any property acquired in connection with urban renewal projects;
(2)
To mortgage, pledge, hypothecate or otherwise encumber
that property; and
(3)
To insure or provide for the insurance of the property
or operations of the municipality against any risks or hazards, including
the power to pay premiums on any such insurance;
E.
To make and execute all contracts and other instruments
necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers under this article,
including the power to enter into agreements with other public bodies
or agencies (these agreements may extend over any period, notwithstanding
any provision or rule of law to the contrary), and to include in any
contract for financial assistance with the federal government for
or with respect to an urban renewal project and related activities
whatever conditions imposed pursuant to federal laws as the municipality
considers reasonable and appropriate;
F.
To enter into any building or property in any urban
renewal area in order to make inspections, surveys, appraisals, soundings
or test borings, and to obtain an order for this purpose from the
Circuit Court for the county in which the municipality is situated
in the event entry is denied or resisted;
G.
To plan, replan, install, construct, reconstruct,
repair, close or vacate streets, roads, sidewalks, public utilities,
parks, playgrounds, and other public improvements in connection with
an urban renewal project; and to make exceptions from building regulations;
H.
To generally organize, coordinate and direct the administration
of the provisions of this article as they apply to the municipality
in order that the objective of remedying slum and blighted areas and
preventing its causes within the municipality may be promoted and
achieved most effectively; and
I.
To exercise all or any part or combination of the
powers granted in this article.
A.
A municipality may itself exercise all the powers
granted by this article, or may, if its legislative body by ordinance
determines the action to be in the public interest, elect to have
the powers exercised by a separate public body or agency.
B.
In the event the legislative body makes that determination,
it shall proceed by ordinance to establish a public body or agency
to undertake in the municipality the activities authorized by this
article.
C.
The ordinance shall include provisions establishing
the number of members of the public body or agency, the manner of
their appointment and removal, and the terms of the members and their
compensation.
D.
The ordinance may include whatever additional provisions
relating to the organization of the public body or agency as may be
necessary.
E.
In the event the legislative body enacts this ordinance,
all of the powers by this article granted to the municipality, from
the effective date of the ordinance, are vested in the public body
or agency established by the ordinance.
The agency may not:
In order to initiate an urban renewal project,
the legislative body of the municipality shall adopt a resolution
which:
A.
Finds that one or more slum or blighted areas exist
in the municipality;
B.
Locates and defines the slum or blighted area;
C.
Finds that the rehabilitation, redevelopment, or a
combination of them, of the area or areas is necessary and in the
interest of the public health, safety, morals or welfare of the residents
of the municipality.
A.
In order to carry out the purposes of this article,
the municipality shall have prepared an urban renewal plan for slum
or blighted areas in the municipality, and shall approve the plan
formally. Prior to its approval of an urban renewal project, the municipality
shall submit the plan to the planning body of the municipality for
review and recommendations as to its conformity with the Master Plan
for the development of the municipality as a whole. The planning body
shall submit its written recommendation with respect to the proposed
urban renewal plan to the municipality within 60 days after receipt
of the plan for review. Upon receipt of the recommendations of the
planning body or, if no recommendations are received within the 60
days, then without the recommendations, the municipality may proceed
with a public hearing on the proposed urban renewal project. The municipality
shall hold a public hearing on an urban renewal project after public
notice of it by publication in a newspaper having a general circulation
within the corporate limits of the municipality. The notice shall
describe the time, date, place and purpose of the hearing; shall generally
identify the urban renewal area covered by the plan; and shall outline
the general scope of the urban renewal project under consideration.
Following the hearing, the municipality may approve an urban renewal
project and the plan therefor if it finds that:
(1)
A feasible method exists for the location of any families
or natural persons who will be displaced from the urban renewal area
in decent, safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations within their
means and without undue hardship to the families or natural persons;
(2)
The urban renewal plan conforms substantially to the
Master Plan of the municipality as a whole; and
(3)
The urban renewal plan will afford maximum opportunity,
consistent with the sound needs of the municipality as a whole, for
the rehabilitation or redevelopment of the urban renewal area by private
enterprise.
B.
An urban renewal plan may be modified at any time.
If modified after the lease or sale of real property in the urban
renewal project area, the modification may be conditioned upon whatever
approval of the owner, lessee or successor in interest as the municipality
considers advisable. In any event, it shall be subject to whatever
rights at law or in equity as a lessee or purchaser, or his or her
successor or successors in interest, may be entitled to assert. Where
the proposed modification will change substantially the urban renewal
plan as approved previously by the municipality, the modification
shall be approved formally by the municipality, as in the case of
an original plan.
C.
Upon the approval by the municipality of an urban
renewal plan or of any modification of it, the plan or modification
shall be considered to be in full force and effect for the respective
urban renewal area. The municipality may have the plan or modification
carried out in accordance with its terms.
A.
The municipality may sell, lease or otherwise transfer
real property or any interest in it acquired by it for an urban renewal
project to any person for residential, recreational, commercial, industrial,
educational or other uses or for public use, or it may retain the
property or interest for public use, in accordance with the urban
renewal plan and subject to whatever covenants, conditions and restrictions,
including covenants running with the land, as it considers necessary
or desirable to assist in preventing the development or spread of
future slums or blighted areas or to otherwise carry out the purposes
of this article. The purchasers or lessees and their successors and
assigns shall be obligated to devote the real property only to the
uses specified in the urban renewal plan, and may be obligated to
comply with whatever other requirements the municipality determines
to be in the public interest, including the obligation to begin within
a reasonable time any improvements on the real property required by
the urban renewal plan. The real property or interest may not be sold,
leased, otherwise transferred, or retained at less than its fair value
for uses in accordance with the urban renewal plan. In determining
the fair value of real property for uses in accordance with the urban
renewal plan, the municipality shall take into account and give consideration
to the uses provided in the plan; the restrictions upon, and the covenants,
conditions and obligations assumed by the purchaser or lessee or by
the municipality retaining the property and the objectives of the
plan for the prevention of the recurrence of slum or blighted areas.
In any instrument of conveyance to a private purchaser or lessee,
the municipality may provide that the purchaser or lessee may not
sell, lease or otherwise transfer the real property without the prior
written consent of the municipality until he or she has completed
the construction of any or all improvements which he or she has obligated
himself or herself to construct on the property. Real property acquired
by the municipality which, in accordance with the provisions of the
urban renewal plan, is to be transferred, shall be transferred as
rapidly as feasible in the public interest consistent with the carrying
out of the provisions of the urban renewal plan. Any contract for
the transfer and the urban renewal plan (or whatever part or parts
of the contract or plan as the municipality determines) may be recorded
in the land records of the county in which the municipality is situated
in a manner so as to afford actual or constructive notice of it.
B.
The municipality may operate temporarily and maintain real property acquired by it in an urban renewal area for or in connection with an urban renewal project pending the disposition of the property as authorized in this article, without regard to the provisions of Subsection A, for uses and purposes considered desirable even though not in conformity with the urban renewal plan.
C.
Any instrument executed by the municipality and purporting
to convey any right, title or interest in any property under this
article shall be presumed conclusively to have been executed in compliance
with the provisions of this article insofar as title or other interest
of any bona fide purchasers, lessees or transferees of the property
is concerned.
Condemnation of land or property under the provisions
of this article shall be in accordance with the procedure provided
in the Real Property Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.
The municipality, to the extent it determines
to be feasible in carrying out the provisions of this article, shall
afford maximum opportunity to the rehabilitation or redevelopment
of any urban renewal area by private enterprise consistent with the
sound needs of the municipality as a whole. The municipality shall
give consideration to this objective in exercising its powers under
this article.
For the purpose of financing and carrying out
of an urban renewal project and related activities, the municipality
may issue and sell its general obligation bonds. Any bonds issued
by the municipality pursuant to this section shall be issued in the
manner and within the limitations prescribed by applicable law for
the issuance and authorization of general obligation bonds by the
municipality, and also within limitations determined by the municipality.
A.
In addition to the authority conferred by § C-114 of this article, the municipality may issue revenue bonds to finance the undertaking of any urban renewal project and related activities. Also, it may issue refunding bonds for the payment or retirement of the bonds issued previously by it. The bonds shall be made payable, as to both principal and interest, solely from the income, proceeds, revenues, and funds of the municipality derived from or held in connection with its undertaking and carrying out of urban renewal projects under this article. However, payment of the bonds, both as to principal and interest, may be further secured by a pledge of any loan, grant or contribution from the federal government or other source, in aid of any urban renewal projects of the municipality under this article, and by a mortgage of any urban renewal project, or any part of a project, title to which is in the municipality. In addition, the municipality may enter into an indenture of trust with any private banking institution of this state having trust powers and may make in the indenture of trust covenants and commitments required by any purchaser for the adequate security of the bonds.
B.
Bonds issued under this section do not constitute
an indebtedness within the meaning of any constitutional or statutory
debt limitation or restriction, are not subject to the provisions
of any other law or charter relating to the authorization, issuance
or sale of bonds, and are exempted specifically from the restrictions
contained in Sections 9, 10, and 11 of Article 31 (Debts - Public)
of the Annotated Code of Maryland. Bonds issued under the provisions
of this article are declared to be issued for an essential public
and governmental purpose and, together with interest on them and income
from them, are exempt from all taxes.
C.
Bonds issued under this section shall be authorized
by resolution or ordinance of the legislative body of the municipality.
They may be issued in one or more series and:
(1)
Shall bear a date or dates;
(2)
Mature at a time or times;
(3)
Bear interest at a rate or rates;
(4)
Be in a denomination or denominations;
(5)
Be in a form either with or without coupon or registered;
(6)
Carry a conversion or registration privilege;
(7)
Have a rank or priority;
(8)
Be executed in a manner;
(9)
Be payable in a medium or payment, at a place or places
and be subject to terms of redemption (with or without premium);
(10)
Be secured in a manner; and
(11)
Have other characteristics, as are provided by the
resolution, trust indenture or mortgage issued pursuant to it.
D.
These bonds may not be sold at less than par value
at public sales which are held after notice is published prior to
the sale in a newspaper having a general circulation in the area in
which the municipality is located and in whatever other medium of
publication as the municipality may determine. The bonds may be exchanged
also for other bonds on the basis of par. However, the bonds may not
be sold to the federal government at private sale at less than par,
and, in the event less than all of the authorized principal amount
of the bonds is sold to the federal government, the balance may not
be sold at private sale at less than par at an interest cost to the
municipality which does not exceed the interest cost to the municipality
of the portion of the bonds sold to the federal government.
E.
In case any of the public officials of the municipality
whose signatures appear on any bonds or coupons issued under this
article cease to be officials of the municipality before the delivery
of the bond or, in the event any of the officials have become such
after the date of issue of them, the bonds are valid and binding obligations
of the municipality in accordance with their terms. Any provision
of any law to the contrary notwithstanding, any bonds issued pursuant
to this article are fully negotiable.
F.
In any suit, action or proceeding involving the validity
or enforceability of any bond issued under this article, or the security
for it, any bond which recites in substance that it has been issued
by the municipality in connection with an urban renewal project shall
be considered conclusively to have been issued for that purpose, and
the project shall be deemed conclusively considered to have been planned,
located and carried out in accordance with the provisions of this
article.
G.
All banks, trust companies, bankers, savings banks
and institutions, building and loan associations, savings and loan
associations, investment companies and other persons carrying on a
banking or investment business; all insurance companies, insurance
associations, and other persons carrying on an insurance business;
and all executors, administrators, curators, trustees, and other fiduciaries,
may legally invest any sinking funds, moneys, or other funds belonging
to them or within their control in any bonds or other obligations
issued by the municipality pursuant to this article. However, the
bonds and other obligations shall be secured by an agreement between
the issuer and the federal government in which the issuer agrees to
borrow from the federal government and the federal government agrees
to lend to the issuer, prior to the maturity of the bonds or other
obligations, moneys in an amount which (together with any other moneys
committed irrevocably to the payment of principal and interest on
the bonds or other obligations) will suffice to pay the principal
of the bonds or other obligations with interest to maturity on them.
The moneys under the terms of the agreement shall be required to be
used for the purpose of paying the principal of and the interest on
the bonds or other obligations at their maturity. The bonds and other
obligations shall be authorized security for all public deposits.
This section authorizes any persons or public or private political
subdivisions and officers to use any funds owned or controlled by
them for the purchase of any bonds or other obligations. With regard
to legal investments, this section may not be construed to relieve
any person of any duty of exercising reasonable care in selecting
securities.
This act shall be known and may be cited as
the "Redevelopment Urban Renewal Act."
