Florida Senate - 2014                                     SB 338
       
       
        
       By Senator Bullard
       
       
       
       
       
       39-00180A-14                                           2014338__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to community redevelopment; amending
    3         s. 163.330, F.S.; renaming the Community Redevelopment
    4         Act of 1969; amending s. 163.340, F.S.; redefining the
    5         term “blighted area,” as applicable to the Community
    6         Redevelopment Act of 1969, to include land previously
    7         used as a military facility and adjacent to a county
    8         owned zoological park; providing an effective date.
    9          
   10  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   11  
   12         Section 1. Section 163.330, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   13  read:
   14         163.330 Short title.—This part shall be known and may be
   15  cited as the “Senator Larcenia Bullard Community Redevelopment
   16  Act of 1969.”
   17         Section 2. Subsection (8) of section 163.340, Florida
   18  Statutes, is amended to read:
   19         163.340 Definitions.—The following terms, wherever used or
   20  referred to in this part, have the following meanings:
   21         (8) “Blighted area” means an area in which there are a
   22  substantial number of deteriorated, or deteriorating structures,
   23  in which conditions, as indicated by government-maintained
   24  statistics or other studies, are leading to economic distress or
   25  endanger life or property, and in which two or more of the
   26  following factors are present:
   27         (a) Predominance of defective or inadequate street layout,
   28  parking facilities, roadways, bridges, or public transportation
   29  facilities;
   30         (b) Aggregate assessed values of real property in the area
   31  for ad valorem tax purposes have failed to show any appreciable
   32  increase over the 5 years prior to the finding of such
   33  conditions;
   34         (c) Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy,
   35  accessibility, or usefulness;
   36         (d) Unsanitary or unsafe conditions;
   37         (e) Deterioration of site or other improvements;
   38         (f) Inadequate and outdated building density patterns;
   39         (g) Falling lease rates per square foot of office,
   40  commercial, or industrial space compared to the remainder of the
   41  county or municipality;
   42         (h) Tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the
   43  fair value of the land;
   44         (i) Residential and commercial vacancy rates higher in the
   45  area than in the remainder of the county or municipality;
   46         (j) Incidence of crime in the area higher than in the
   47  remainder of the county or municipality;
   48         (k) Fire and emergency medical service calls to the area
   49  proportionately higher than in the remainder of the county or
   50  municipality;
   51         (l) A greater number of violations of the Florida Building
   52  Code in the area than the number of violations recorded in the
   53  remainder of the county or municipality;
   54         (m) Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual
   55  conditions of title which prevent the free alienability of land
   56  within the deteriorated or hazardous area; or
   57         (n) Governmentally owned property with adverse
   58  environmental conditions caused by a public or private entity.
   59  
   60  However, the term “blighted area” also means an any area in
   61  which at least one of the factors identified in paragraphs (a)
   62  through (n) is are present and all taxing authorities subject to
   63  s. 163.387(2)(a) agree, either by interlocal agreement, by or
   64  agreements with the agency, or by resolution, that the area is
   65  blighted, or an area that was previously used as a military
   66  facility and is adjacent to a county-owned zoological park. Such
   67  agreement or resolution shall only determine only that the area
   68  is blighted. For purposes of qualifying for the tax credits
   69  authorized in chapter 220, “blighted area” means an area as
   70  defined in this subsection.
   71         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.