The Florida Senate

163.370  Powers; counties and municipalities; community redevelopment agencies.--

(1)  Every county and municipality shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this part, including the following powers in addition to others herein granted:

(a)  To make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers under this part;

(b)  To disseminate slum clearance and community redevelopment information;

(c)  To undertake and carry out community redevelopment and related activities within the community redevelopment area, which redevelopment may include:

1.  Acquisition of a slum area or a blighted area or portion thereof.

2.  Demolition and removal of buildings and improvements.

3.  Installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, public areas of major hotels that are constructed in support of convention centers, including meeting rooms, banquet facilities, parking garages, lobbies, and passageways, and other improvements necessary for carrying out in the community redevelopment area the community redevelopment objectives of this part in accordance with the community redevelopment plan.

4.  Disposition of any property acquired in the community redevelopment area at its fair value for uses in accordance with the community redevelopment plan.

5.  Carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements in accordance with the community redevelopment plan.

6.  Acquisition of real property in the community redevelopment area which, under the community redevelopment plan, is to be repaired or rehabilitated for dwelling use or related facilities, repair or rehabilitation of the structures for guidance purposes, and resale of the property.

7.  Acquisition of any other real property in the community redevelopment area when 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.

8.  Acquisition, without regard to any requirement that the area be a slum or blighted area, of air rights in an area consisting principally of land in highways, railway or subway tracks, bridge or tunnel entrances, or other similar facilities which have a blighting influence on the surrounding area and over which air rights sites are to be developed for the elimination of such blighting influences and for the provision of housing (and related facilities and uses) designed specifically for, and limited to, families and individuals of low or moderate income.

9.  Construction of foundations and platforms necessary for the provision of air rights sites of housing (and related facilities and uses) designed specifically for, and limited to, families and individuals of low or moderate income.

(d)  To provide, or to arrange or contract for, the furnishing or repair by any person or agency, public or private, of services, privileges, works, streets, roads, public utilities, or other facilities for or in connection with a community redevelopment; to install, construct, and reconstruct streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other public improvements; and to agree to any conditions that it deems reasonable and appropriate which are attached to federal financial assistance and imposed pursuant to federal law relating to the determination of prevailing salaries or wages or compliance with labor standards, in the undertaking or carrying out of a community redevelopment and related activities, and to include in any contract let in connection with such redevelopment and related activities provisions to fulfill such of the conditions as it deems reasonable and appropriate.

(e)  Within the community redevelopment area:

1.  To enter into any building or property in any community redevelopment area in order to make inspections, surveys, appraisals, soundings, or test borings and to obtain an order for this purpose from a court of competent jurisdiction in the event entry is denied or resisted.

2.  To acquire by purchase, lease, option, gift, grant, bequest, devise, eminent domain, or otherwise any real property (or personal property for its administrative purposes), together with any improvements thereon; except that a community redevelopment agency may not exercise any power of eminent domain unless the exercise has been specifically approved by the governing body of the county or municipality which established the agency.

3.  To hold, improve, clear, or prepare for redevelopment any such property.

4.  To mortgage, pledge, hypothecate, or otherwise encumber or dispose of any real property.

5.  To insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal property or operations of the county or municipality against any risks or hazards, including the power to pay premiums on any such insurance.

6.  To enter into any contracts necessary to effectuate the purposes of this part.

7.  To solicit requests for proposals for redevelopment of parcels of real property contemplated by a community redevelopment plan to be acquired for redevelopment purposes by a community redevelopment agency and, as a result of such requests for proposals, to advertise for the disposition of such real property to private persons pursuant to s. 163.380 prior to acquisition of such real property by the community redevelopment agency.

(f)  To invest any community redevelopment funds held in reserves or sinking funds or any such funds not required for immediate disbursement in property or securities in which savings banks may legally invest funds subject to their control and to redeem such bonds as have been issued pursuant to s. 163.385 at the redemption price established therein or to purchase such bonds at less than redemption price, all such bonds so redeemed or purchased to be canceled.

(g)  To borrow money and to apply for and accept advances, loans, grants, contributions, and any other form of financial assistance from the Federal Government or the state, county, or other public body or from any sources, public or private, for the purposes of this part and to give such security as may be required and to enter into and carry out contracts or agreements in connection therewith; and to include in any contract for financial assistance with the Federal Government for or with respect to community redevelopment and related activities such conditions imposed pursuant to federal laws as the county or municipality deems reasonable and appropriate which are not inconsistent with the purposes of this part.

(h)  Within its area of operation, to make or have made all surveys and plans necessary to the carrying out of the purposes of this part; to contract with any person, public or private, in making and carrying out such plans; and to adopt or approve, modify, and amend such plans, which 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 state and local laws, 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.

3.  Appraisals, title searches, surveys, studies, and other plans and work necessary to prepare for the undertaking of community redevelopment and related activities.

(i)  To develop, test, and report methods and techniques, and carry out demonstrations and other activities, for the prevention and the elimination of slums and urban blight and developing and demonstrating new or improved means of providing housing for families and persons of low income.

(j)  To apply for, accept, and utilize grants of funds from the Federal Government for such purposes.

(k)  To prepare plans for and assist in the relocation of persons (including individuals, families, business concerns, nonprofit organizations, and others) displaced from a community redevelopment area and to make relocation payments to or with respect to such persons for moving expenses and losses of property for which reimbursement or compensation is not otherwise made, including the making of such payments financed by the Federal Government.

(l)  To appropriate such funds and make such expenditures as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this part; to zone or rezone any part of the county or municipality or make exceptions from building regulations; and to enter into agreements with a housing authority, which agreements may extend over any period, notwithstanding any provision or rule of law to the contrary, respecting action to be taken by such county or municipality pursuant to any of the powers granted by this part.

(m)  To close, vacate, plan, or replan streets, roads, sidewalks, ways, or other places and to plan or replan any part of the county or municipality.

(n)  Within its area of operation, to organize, coordinate, and direct the administration of the provisions of this part, as they may apply to such county or municipality, in order that the objective of remedying slum and blighted areas and preventing the causes thereof within such county or municipality may be most effectively promoted and achieved and to establish such new office or offices of the county or municipality or to reorganize existing offices in order to carry out such purpose most effectively.

(o)  To exercise all or any part or combination of powers herein granted or to elect to have such powers exercised by a community redevelopment agency.

(p)  To develop and implement community policing innovations.

(2)  The following projects may not be paid for or financed by increment revenues:

(a)  Construction or expansion of administrative buildings for public bodies or police and fire buildings, unless each taxing authority agrees to such method of financing for the construction or expansion, or unless the construction or expansion is contemplated as part of a community policing innovation.

(b)  Installation, construction, reconstruction, repair, or alteration of any publicly owned capital improvements or projects which are not an integral part of or necessary for carrying out the community redevelopment plan if such projects or improvements are normally financed by the governing body with user fees or if such projects or improvements would be installed, constructed, reconstructed, repaired, or altered within 3 years of the approval of the community redevelopment plan by the governing body pursuant to a previously approved public capital improvement or project schedule or plan of the governing body which approved the community redevelopment plan.

(c)  General government operating expenses unrelated to the planning and carrying out of a community redevelopment plan.

(3)  With the approval of the governing body, a community redevelopment agency may:

(a)  Prior to approval of a community redevelopment plan or approval of any modifications of the plan, acquire real property in a community redevelopment area, demolish and remove any structures on the property, and pay all costs related to the acquisition, demolition, or removal, including any administrative or relocation expenses.

(b)  Assume the responsibility to bear any loss that may arise as the result of the exercise of authority under this subsection, in the event that the real property is not made part of the community redevelopment area.

History.--s. 9, ch. 69-305; s. 7, ch. 77-391; s. 11, ch. 84-356; s. 7, ch. 93-286; s. 8, ch. 94-236; s. 8, ch. 98-314.