A. The Urban Renewal Authority may itself prepare or cause to be prepared an urban renewal plan or any person or agency, public or private, may prepare and submit such a plan to the municipality. Prior to the approval of an urban renewal plan by the municipal governing body, the plan shall be submitted to the planning commission having official planning jurisdiction in the municipality and such planning commission shall determine if such plan conforms with the general plan for its area of operation and the municipality, and the planning commission shall submit its written recommendations to the municipality with respect thereto within sixty (60) days after receipt of the plan.

B. A municipal governing body shall not approve an urban renewal plan for an urban renewal area unless such governing body, by resolution, has determined such area to be a blighted area and designated such area or portion thereof, as appropriate for an urban renewal project. The municipal governing body shall not approve an urban renewal plan or project until a general plan for the municipality has been adopted as the long-range development policy, and such urban renewal plan shall adhere thereto; provided, however, that such general plan must have designated and delineated urban renewal areas, established the appropriate reuse of such areas and established priorities for the rehabilitation or clearance and redevelopment of such areas. The Urban Renewal Authority or a municipality shall not acquire real property for an urban renewal project unless the municipal governing body has approved the urban renewal plan in accordance with subsection D of this section.

C. Upon receipt of the recommendations of the planning commission, or if no recommendations are received within the sixty-day period, then without such recommendations, the municipal governing body may proceed with the hearing on the proposed urban renewal project as prescribed by subsection D of this section.

D. Before adoption of an urban renewal plan or subsequent significant amendments to an urban renewal plan, as determined pursuant to subsection H of this section, the municipal governing body shall hold two public hearings after public notice thereof by posting not less than five public notice signs, each having at least nine (9) square feet of display area, for a period of fourteen (14) successive days including the days of the public hearings for which notice is being given, in the area affected by the proposed urban renewal plan, and shall outline the general nature and scope of the urban renewal project under consideration. The primary purpose of the first hearing will be to provide information and to answer questions. A representative of the municipal governing body shall present the proposed urban renewal plan. The date of the second public hearing shall be announced in the presence of persons in attendance at the hearing and the date shall be more than seven (7) successive days after the date of the first public hearing. The purpose of the second public hearing shall be to give any interested persons the opportunity to express their views on the proposed or amended urban renewal plan.

E. Notice of the first public hearing shall be given by publication at least one time not less than fourteen (14) successive days prior to the date of the public hearing in a newspaper with general circulation in the area of operation of the municipality. Additionally, a municipal governing body that maintains an Internet website shall make notices prepared pursuant to this section regularly available on the website for a period of not less than fourteen (14) successive days prior to the date of the public hearing. The notices shall include the following:

1. The time and place of the public hearing;

2. The boundaries of the proposed urban renewal area by legal description and by street location, if possible, accompanied by a sketch clearly delineating the area in detail as may be necessary to advise the reader of the particular land proposed to be included;

3. A statement that the first public hearing shall be for information and question purposes only with persons being given the opportunity to be heard at the second public hearing before any votes are taken;

4. A description of the activities to be authorized by the proposed urban renewal plan, and a location and time where the proposed urban renewal plan may be reviewed by any interested party; and

5. Such other matters as the municipal governing body may deem appropriate.

F. Notice of the second public hearing may be included in the publication notice provided for in subsection E of this section. Notice of the second public hearing shall be published in the same manner as the notice provided for in subsection E of this section if:

1. Notice for both public hearings is not included in the notice of the first public hearing;

2. The location, date or time of the second public hearing is changed after the notice of the first public hearing has been published; or

3. The second public hearing is held more than fourteen (14) successive days after the first public hearing.

G. Following such hearings, the municipal governing body may approve an urban renewal plan if it finds that:

1. A feasible method exists for the relocation of families and businesses who will be displaced from the urban renewal area in decent, safe and sanitary accommodations within their means and without undue hardship to such families and businesses;

2. The urban renewal plan conforms to and assists in the execution of the general plan of the municipality as a whole; provided, however, if the planning commission fails to make such a determination within the prescribed sixty (60) days, or makes a determination to the contrary, not less than four-fifths (4/5) majority vote of the municipal governing body shall be required to make this finding;

3. The plan includes feasible methods for financing the project; and

4. The urban renewal plan will afford maximum opportunity, consistent with the sound needs of the municipality as a whole, for the rehabilitation or redevelopment of the urban renewal area by private enterprise.

H. An urban renewal plan may be modified at any time in accordance with the following procedure:

1. The Urban Renewal Authority determines the proposed modification to be desirable; and

2. The planning commission determines that the proposed modification conforms to the general plan for the municipality and makes its recommendations pursuant to the modification or not as it may determine.

Public hearings required for the adoption of an urban renewal plan in the first instance shall be held if the governing body determines the modification to be a significant deviation from the existing urban renewal plan, in which case approval of the modification shall be in the same manner as prescribed by this article for adoption of any urban renewal plan. If the governing body determines the modification not to be a significant deviation or to be merely technical or for clarification purposes, the governing body may act without such public hearings.

I. If modification of the plan is proposed after the lease or sale by the Urban Renewal Authority of real property in the urban renewal project area, such modification may be conditioned upon the approval of the owner, lessee or successor in interest as the authority may deem advisable and in any event shall be subject to such rights at law or in equity as a lessee or purchaser, or his successor or successors in interest, may be entitled to assert.

J. Upon the approval by the municipal governing body of an urban renewal plan or of any modification thereof, such plan or modification shall be deemed to be in full force and effect for the respective urban renewal area and the Urban Renewal Authority may then cause such plan or modification to be carried out in accordance with its terms.

K. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article, where the municipal governing body determines that an area is in need of redevelopment or rehabilitation as a result of a flood, fire, wind, earthquake, storm or other catastrophe respecting which the Governor of the state has certified the need for disaster assistance under Public Law 875, Eighty-first Congress (42 U.S.C. Sections 1855 - 1855g), or other federal laws, the municipal governing body may approve an urban renewal plan and an urban renewal project with respect to such area without regard to the provisions of subsection G of this section and the provisions of this section requiring a general plan for the municipality and a public hearing on the urban renewal project.

Added by Laws 1977, c. 256, § 38-106, eff. July 1, 1978. Amended by Laws 2015, c. 108, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2015.