17-4760. Definitions. The following terms wherever used or referred to in this act, shall have the following meanings, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context:

(a) "Agency" or "urban renewal agency" shall mean a public agency created by K.S.A. 17-4757.

(b) "Municipality" shall mean any incorporated city in the state of Kansas.

(c) "Public body" shall mean the state or any municipality, township, village, board, commission, authority, district, or any other subdivision or public body of the state.

(d) "Local governing body" shall mean the council, commission or other legislative body charged with governing the municipality.

(e) "Mayor" shall mean the mayor of a municipality or other officer or body having the duties customarily imposed upon the executive head of a municipality.

(f) "Clerk" shall mean the clerk and other official of the municipality who is the custodian of the official records of such municipality.

(g) "Federal government" shall include the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America.

(h) "Slum area" shall mean 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, or the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and 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.

(i) "Blighted area" shall mean an area (other than a slum area) which by reason of the presence of a substantial number of slum, deteriorated or deteriorating structures, predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness, insanitary or unsafe conditions, deterioration of site or other improvements, diversity of ownership, tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land, defective or unusual conditions of title, improper subdivision or obsolete platting, or the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causes, or any combination of such factors, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of a municipality, retards the provision of housing accommodations or constitutes an economic or social liability and is a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition and use: Provided, That if such blighted area consists of open land the conditions contained in the proviso in K.S.A. 17-4747(d) shall apply.

(j) "Urban renewal project" may include undertakings or activities of a municipality in an urban renewal area for the elimination and for the prevention of the development or spread of slums and blight, and may involve slum clearance and redevelopment in an urban renewal area, or rehabilitation or conservation in an urban renewal area, or any combination or part thereof in accordance with an urban renewal plan.

(k) "Slum clearance and 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, and other improvements necessary for carrying out in the area the urban renewal provisions of this act in accordance with the urban renewal plan; and (4) making the land available for development or redevelopment by private enterprise or public agencies (including sale, initial leasing, or retention by the municipality itself) at its fair value for uses in accordance with the urban renewal plan.

(l) "Rehabilitation" or "conservation" may include the restoration and renewal of a slum or blighted area or portion thereof, in accordance with an urban renewal plan, by: (1) Carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements; (2) acquisition of real property and demolition or removal of buildings and improvements thereon where necessary to eliminate unhealthful, insanitary or unsafe conditions, lessen density, eliminate obsolete or other uses detrimental to the public welfare, or to otherwise remove or prevent the spread of blight or deterioration, or to provide land for needed public facilities; (3) installation, construction or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other improvements necessary for carrying out in the area the urban renewal provisions of this act; and (4) the disposition of any property acquired in such urban renewal area (including sale, initial leasing, or retention by the municipality itself) at its fair value for uses in accordance with such urban renewal plan.

(m) "Urban renewal area" means a slum area or a blighted area or a combination thereof which the local governing body designates as appropriate for an urban renewal project.

(n) "Urban renewal plan" means a plan, as it exists from time to time, for an urban renewal project, which plan: (1) Shall conform to the general plan for the municipality as a whole; and (2) shall be sufficiently complete to indicate such land acquisition, demolition and removal of structures, redevelopment, improvements, and rehabilitation as may be proposed to be carried out in the urban renewal area, zoning and planning changes, if any, land uses, maximum densities, building requirements, and the plan's relationship to definite local objectives respecting appropriate land uses, improved traffic, public transportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities, and other public improvements.

(o) "Real property" shall include 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 terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise.

(p) "Bonds" shall mean any bonds (including refunding bonds), notes, interim certificates, certificates of indebtedness, debentures or other obligations.

(q) "Obligee" shall include any bondholder, agents or trustees for any bondholders, or lessor demising to the municipality property used in connection with an urban renewal project, 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 municipality.

(r) "Person" shall mean any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or body politic; and shall include any trustee, receiver, assignee, or other person acting in a similar representative capacity.

(s) "Area of operation" shall mean the area within the corporate limits of the municipality and the area within five (5) miles of such limits, except that it shall not include any area which lies within the territorial boundaries of another incorporated city unless a resolution shall have been adopted by the governing body of such other city declaring a need therefor and except that it shall not include any area lying beyond the territorial boundaries of the county in which the municipality is located.

(t) "Board" or "commission" shall mean a board, commission, department, division, office, body or other unit of the municipality.

(u) "Public officer" shall mean any officer who shall be delegated by the local governing body to be in charge of any department or branch of the government of the municipality relating to health, fire, building regulations, or to other activities concerning dwellings in the municipality.

History: L. 1955, ch. 86, § 19; L. 1957, ch. 157, § 1; June 29.