As used in the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code [Chapter 3, Article 60A NMSA 1978]:

A. "public body" means a local government, board, commission, authority, district or other political subdivision or public body of the state;

B. "local government" means an incorporated city, town or village, whether incorporated under general act, special act or special charter, or a county or, when the context requires, the governing body of an incorporated city, town or village or a county;

C. "clerk" means the clerk or other official of a local government who is the chief custodian of the official records of the local government;

D. "federal government" means the United States of America or an agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States;

E. "slum area" means an area within the area of operation in which there are numerous residential or nonresidential buildings, improvements and structures that are dilapidated, deteriorated, aged or obsolete or that have inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air or sanitation or the area lacks open spaces or has a high density of population or overcrowding or there exist in the area conditions that endanger life or property by fire or other causes, and the area 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;

F. "blighted area" means an area within the area of operation other than a slum area that substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth and economic health and well-being within the jurisdiction of a local government or a locale within the jurisdiction of a local government because of the presence of a substantial number of deteriorated or deteriorating structures; a predominance of defective or inadequate street layout; faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness; unsanitary 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; lack of adequate housing facilities in the area; or obsolete or impractical planning and platting or an area where a significant number of commercial or mercantile businesses have closed or significantly reduced their operations due to the economic losses or loss of profit due to operating in the area, low levels of commercial or industrial activity or redevelopment or any combination of such factors; or an area that retards the provisions of housing accommodations or constitutes an economic or social burden and is a menace to the public health, safety, morals or welfare in its present condition and use;

G. "metropolitan redevelopment project" or "project" means an activity, undertaking or series of activities or undertakings designed to eliminate slums or blighted areas in areas designated as metropolitan redevelopment areas and the activity or undertaking conforms to an approved plan for the area for slum clearance and redevelopment, rehabilitation and conservation;

H. "slum clearance and redevelopment" means the use of those powers authorized by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code to eliminate slum areas and undertake activities authorized by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code to rejuvenate or revitalize those areas so that the conditions that caused those areas to be designated slum areas are eliminated;

I. "rehabilitation" or "conservation" means the restoration and renewal of a slum or blighted area or portion thereof in accordance with an approved plan by use of powers granted by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code;

J. "metropolitan redevelopment area" means a slum area or a blighted area or a combination thereof that the local government so finds and declares and designates as appropriate for a metropolitan redevelopment project;

K. "metropolitan redevelopment plan" means a plan, as it exists from time to time, for one or more metropolitan redevelopment areas or for a metropolitan redevelopment project, which plan shall:

(1) seek to eliminate the problems created by a slum area or blighted area;

(2) conform to the general plan for the local government as a whole; and

(3) be sufficient to indicate the proposed activities to be carried out in the area, including any proposals for land acquisition; proposals for demolition and removal of structures; redevelopment; proposals for improvements, rehabilitation and conservation; zoning and planning changes; land uses, maximum densities, building restrictions and requirements; and the plan's relationship to definite local objectives respecting land uses, improved traffic patterns and controls, public transportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities, housing facilities, commercial activities or enterprises, industrial or manufacturing use and other public improvements;

L. "real property" includes 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;

M. "bonds" means any bonds, including refunding bonds, notes, interim certificates, certification of indebtedness, debentures, metropolitan redevelopment bonds or other securities evidencing an obligation and issued under the provisions of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code or other obligations;

N. "obligee" includes a bondholder, agent or trustee for a bondholder or lessor demising to the local government property used in connection with a metropolitan redevelopment project or any assignee or assignees of such lessor's interest or any part thereof;

O. "person" means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint stock association or body politic or the state or any political subdivision thereof and shall further include any trustee, receiver, assignee or other person acting in a similar representative capacity;

P. "area of operation" means an area within a local government's jurisdiction, except that it shall not include an area that lies within the jurisdiction of another local government unless an ordinance has been adopted by the other local government declaring a need therefor;

Q. "board" or "commission" means a board, commission, department, division, office, body or other unit of a local government designated by the local government to perform functions authorized by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code as directed by the local government;

R. "public officer" means any person who is in charge of any department or branch of government of the local government; and

S. "fair value" means the negotiated price or value of an asset or liability agreed upon by a local government and a private entity.

History: Laws 1979, ch. 391, § 4; 1980, ch. 52, § 1; 1983, ch. 32, § 1; 2000, ch. 103, § 1; 2018, ch. 60, § 4.

The 2018 amendment, effective May 16, 2018, made conforming changes to certain definitions as a result of the inclusion of counties within the scope of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code; deleted "municipality" and added "local government" throughout the section; deleted former Subsections B and C and redesignated Subsections D through F as Subsections B through D, respectively; in Subsection B, after "special charter", deleted "an incorporated county", after the next occurrence of "or", deleted "an H class" and added "a", after the next occurrence of "county", added "or, when the context requires, the governing body of an incorporated city, town or village or a county"; in Subsection D, after "government'", deleted "includes" and added "means"; deleted former Subsection G and redesignated Subsections H through U as Subsections E through R, respectively; in Subsection E, after "numerous", added "residential or nonresidential", and after "structures", deleted "whether residential or nonresidential, which, by reason of its dilapidation, deterioration, age, obsolescence" and added "that are dilapidated, deteriorated, aged or obsolete"; in Subsection F, after "a slum area that", deleted "because of the presence of a substantial number of 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 lack of adequate housing facilities in the area or obsolete or impractical planning and platting or an area where a significant number of commercial or mercantile businesses have closed or significantly reduced their operations due to the economic losses or loss of profit due to operating in the area, low levels of commercial or industrial activity or redevelopment or any combination of such factors", after "health and well-being", deleted "of a municipality" and added "within the jurisdiction of a local government", and after "locale within", deleted "a municipality" and added "the jurisdiction of a local government because of the presence of a substantial number of deteriorated or deteriorating structures; a predominance of defective or inadequate street layout; faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness; unsanitary 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; lack of adequate housing facilities in the area; or obsolete or impractical planning and platting or an area where a significant number of commercial or mercantile businesses have closed or significantly reduced their operations due to the economic losses or loss of profit due to operating in the area, low levels of commercial or industrial activity or redevelopment or any combination of such factors"; in Subsection J, after "local", deleted "governing body" and added "government"; in Subsection P, after "area within", deleted "the corporate limits of the municipality and the area outside of the corporate limits but within five miles of such limits or otherwise on municipally owned property wherever located" and added "a local government's jurisdiction", after "within the", deleted "territorial boundaries" and added "jurisdiction", and after "adopted by", deleted "the governing body"; in Subsection Q, "governing body" with "government" throughout the subsection; and added Subsection S.

The 2000 amendment, effective May 17, 2000, rewrote Subsections B and D.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — What constitutes "blighted area" within urban renewal and redevelopment statutes, 45 A.L.R.3d 1096.

39A C.J.S. Health and Environment § 35.