The Florida Senate

163.340  Definitions.--The following terms, wherever used or referred to in this part, have the following meanings:

(1)  "Agency" or "community redevelopment agency" means a public agency created by, or designated pursuant to, s. 163.356 or s. 163.357.

(2)  "Public body" or "taxing authority" means the state or any county, municipality, authority, special district as defined in s. 165.031(5), or other public body of the state, except a school district.

(3)  "Governing body" means the council or other legislative body charged with governing the county or municipality.

(4)  "Mayor" means the mayor of a municipality or, for a county, the chair of the board of county commissioners or such other officer as may be constituted by law to act as the executive head of such municipality or county.

(5)  "Clerk" means the clerk or other official of the county or municipality who is the custodian of the official records of such county or municipality.

(6)  "Federal Government" includes the United States or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States.

(7)  "Slum area" means 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; the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire or 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.

(8)  "Blighted area" means either:

(a)  An area in which there are a substantial number of slum, deteriorated, or deteriorating structures and conditions that lead to economic distress or endanger life or property by fire or other causes or one or more of the following factors that substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of a county or municipality and is a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition and use:

1.  Predominance of defective or inadequate street layout;

2.  Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness;

3.  Unsanitary or unsafe conditions;

4.  Deterioration of site or other improvements;

5.  Inadequate and outdated building density patterns;

6.  Tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land;

7.  Inadequate transportation and parking facilities; and

8.  Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual conditions of title which prevent the free alienability of land within the deteriorated or hazardous area; or

(b)  An area in which there exists faulty or inadequate street layout; inadequate parking facilities; or roadways, bridges, or public transportation facilities incapable of handling the volume of traffic flow into or through the area, either at present or following proposed construction.

However, for purposes of qualifying for the tax credits authorized in chapter 220, "blighted area" means an area described in paragraph (a).

(9)  "Community redevelopment" or "redevelopment" means undertakings, activities, or projects of a county, municipality, or community redevelopment agency in a community redevelopment area for the elimination and prevention of the development or spread of slums and blight, or for the reduction or prevention of crime, or for the provision of affordable housing, whether for rent or for sale, to residents of low or moderate income, including the elderly, and may include slum clearance and redevelopment in a community redevelopment area or rehabilitation and revitalization of coastal resort and tourist areas that are deteriorating and economically distressed, or rehabilitation or conservation in a community redevelopment area, or any combination or part thereof, in accordance with a community redevelopment plan and may include the preparation of such a plan.

(10)  "Community redevelopment area" means a slum area, a blighted area, or an area in which there is a shortage of housing that is affordable to residents of low or moderate income, including the elderly, or a coastal and tourist area that is deteriorating and economically distressed due to outdated building density patterns, inadequate transportation and parking facilities, faulty lot layout or inadequate street layout, or a combination thereof which the governing body designates as appropriate for community redevelopment.

(11)  "Community redevelopment plan" means a plan, as it exists from time to time, for a community redevelopment area.

(12)  "Related activities" means:

(a)  Planning work for the preparation of a general neighborhood redevelopment plan or for the preparation or completion of a communitywide plan or program pursuant to s. 163.365.

(b)  The functions related to the acquisition and disposal of real property pursuant to s. 163.370(3).

(c)  The development of affordable housing for residents of the area.

(d)  The development of community policing innovations.

(13)  "Real property" means 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 but not limited to terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage, or otherwise.

(14)  "Bonds" means any bonds (including refunding bonds), notes, interim certificates, certificates of indebtedness, debentures, or other obligations.

(15)  "Obligee" means and includes any bondholder, agents or trustees for any bondholders, or lessor demising to the county or municipality property used in connection with community redevelopment, 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 county or municipality.

(16)  "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or body politic and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or other person acting in a similar representative capacity.

(17)  "Area of operation" means, for a county, the area within the boundaries of the county, and for a municipality, the area within the corporate limits of the municipality.

(18)  "Housing authority" means a housing authority created by and established pursuant to chapter 421.

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

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

(21)  "Debt service millage" means any millage levied pursuant to s. 12, Art. VII of the State Constitution.

(22)  "Increment revenue" means the amount calculated pursuant to s. 163.387(1).

(23)  "Community policing innovation" means a policing technique or strategy designed to reduce crime by reducing opportunities for, and increasing the perceived risks of engaging in, criminal activity through visible presence of police in the community, including, but not limited to, community mobilization, neighborhood block watch, citizen patrol, citizen contact patrol, foot patrol, neighborhood storefront police stations, field interrogation, or intensified motorized patrol.

History.--s. 3, ch. 69-305; s. 1, ch. 77-391; s. 1, ch. 81-44; s. 3, ch. 83-231; ss. 2, 22, ch. 84-356; s. 83, ch. 85-180; s. 72, ch. 87-243; s. 33, ch. 91-45; s. 1, ch. 93-286; s. 1, ch. 94-236; s. 1447, ch. 95-147; s. 2, ch. 98-201; s. 1, ch. 98-314.