Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 148
       
       
       
       By Senator Bullard
       
       
       
       
       39-00129-12                                            2012148__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to community redevelopment; amending
    3         s. 163.340, F.S.; expanding the definition of the term
    4         “blighted area” to include land previously used as a
    5         military facility; providing an effective date.
    6  
    7  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
    8  
    9         Section 1. Subsection (8) of section 163.340, Florida
   10  Statutes, is amended to read:
   11         163.340 Definitions.—The following terms, wherever used or
   12  referred to in this part, have the following meanings:
   13         (8) “Blighted area” means an area in which there are a
   14  substantial number of deteriorated, or deteriorating structures,
   15  in which conditions, as indicated by government-maintained
   16  statistics or other studies, are leading to economic distress or
   17  endanger life or property, and in which two or more of the
   18  following factors are present:
   19         (a) Predominance of defective or inadequate street layout,
   20  parking facilities, roadways, bridges, or public transportation
   21  facilities;
   22         (b) Aggregate assessed values of real property in the area
   23  for ad valorem tax purposes have failed to show any appreciable
   24  increase over the 5 years prior to the finding of such
   25  conditions;
   26         (c) Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy,
   27  accessibility, or usefulness;
   28         (d) Unsanitary or unsafe conditions;
   29         (e) Deterioration of site or other improvements;
   30         (f) Inadequate and outdated building density patterns;
   31         (g) Falling lease rates per square foot of office,
   32  commercial, or industrial space compared to the remainder of the
   33  county or municipality;
   34         (h) Tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the
   35  fair value of the land;
   36         (i) Residential and commercial vacancy rates higher in the
   37  area than in the remainder of the county or municipality;
   38         (j) Incidence of crime in the area higher than in the
   39  remainder of the county or municipality;
   40         (k) Fire and emergency medical service calls to the area
   41  proportionately higher than in the remainder of the county or
   42  municipality;
   43         (l) A greater number of violations of the Florida Building
   44  Code in the area than the number of violations recorded in the
   45  remainder of the county or municipality;
   46         (m) Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual
   47  conditions of title which prevent the free alienability of land
   48  within the deteriorated or hazardous area; or
   49         (n) Governmentally owned property with adverse
   50  environmental conditions caused by a public or private entity.
   51  
   52  However, the term “blighted area” also means any area in which
   53  at least one of the factors identified in paragraphs (a) through
   54  (n) is are present and all taxing authorities subject to s.
   55  163.387(2)(a) agree, either by interlocal agreement, by or
   56  agreements with the agency, or by resolution, that the area is
   57  blighted, or the area was previously used as a military
   58  facility, is undeveloped, and consists of land that the Federal
   59  Government declared surplus within the preceding 20 years. Such
   60  agreement or resolution shall only determine only that the area
   61  is blighted. For purposes of qualifying for the tax credits
   62  authorized in chapter 220, “blighted area” means an area as
   63  defined in this subsection.
   64         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.