State law authorizes the creation in each
municipality of "urban renewal authorities." An urban renewal
authority's boundaries are the same as the boundaries of the
municipality that
created it.
An authority may only be created upon request by municipal residents
and after a public hearing on the request. During the public hearing,
the city council must decide if one or
more blighted areas exist in the muicipality and if an urban renewal
authority is needed to remove the blight. The primary purpose of
urban-renewal authorities is to
carry out urban-renewal plans designed to address blight in municipal
areas.
The authority has no power to perform urban-renewal activities unless
the city council has adopted an urban-renewal plan for a municipal area
found by the council to be blighted.
Upon the
city council's adoption of such a plan, the authority's power to
implement the plan is significant. The authority, which becomes a
separate governmental entity within a municipality:
- Has
no elected members--they are all appointed--and none can be removed for
any reason unless the mayor initiates removal proceeds and the city
council consents to removal.
- May not, with few
exceptions, be controlled or supervised by any other entity, including
the city council.
- By
statute has "all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and
effectuate the purposes" of the urban renewal laws.
- May
sue and be sued.
- May
enter into contracts with any person or entity.
- May
have "perpetual succession."
- Has sole discretion
in how it invests tax dollars and other monies it
receives.
- May
buy, sell, gift, lease or otherwise dispose of any property identified
in the plan.
- May
enter into any agreement relating to its urban-renewal functions with
any other public body.
- May
obtain tax-revenue funding for its operations.
- May
expend its tax-revenue funding without oversight from any governmental
body, including the city council.
- May
borrow money using taxpayer monies as collateral without advance notice
to or approval by any governmental body, including the city council.
This
summarizes some of the laws governing urban-renewal authorities.
The statute describing most of these powers is section
31-25-105.
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