Pub. L. 83-560, tit. III, sec. 311

Sec. 311. Section 110 of said Act, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows: “Sec. 110. The following terms shall have the meanings, respectively, ascribed to them below, and, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, shall include the plural as well as the singular number: “(a) ‘Urban renewal area’ means a slum area or a blighted, deteriorated, or deteriorating area in the locality involved which the Administrator approves as appropriate for an urban renewal project. “(b) ‘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 of the locality as a whole and to the workable program referred to in section 101 hereof; (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; and (3) shall include, for any part of the urban renewal area proposed to be acquired and redeveloped in accordance with clause (1) of the second sentence of subsection (c) of this 68 Stat. 627 section, a redevelopment plan approved by the governing body of the locality. “(c) ‘Urban renewal project’ or ‘project’ may include undertakings and activities of a local public agency 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 such urban renewal plan. For the purposes of this subsection, ‘slum clearance and redevelopment” may include (1) acquisition of (i) a slum area or a deteriorated or deteriorating area, or (ii) land which is predominantly open and which because of obsolete platting, diversity of ownership, deterioration of structures or of site improvements, or otherwise, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of the community, or (iii) open land necessary for sound community growth which is to be developed for predominantly residential uses: Provided, That the requirement in paragraph (a) of this section that the area be a slum area or a blighted, deteriorated, or deteriorating area shall not be applicable in the case of an open land project: And provided further, That financial assistance shall not be extended under this title for any project involving slum clearance and redevelopment of an area which is not clearly predominantly residential in character unless such area is to be redeveloped for predominantly residential uses, except that, where such an area which is not predominantly residential in character contains a substantial number of slum, blighted, deteriorated, or deteriorating dwellings or other living accommodations, the elimination of which would tend to promote the public health, safety and welfare in the locality involved and such area is not appropriate for redevelopment for predominantly residential uses, the Administrator may extend financial assistance for such a project, but the aggregate of the capital grants made pursuant to this title with respect to such projects shall not exceed 10 per centum of the total amount of capital grants authorized by this title; (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 objectives of this title 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 local public agency itself) at its fair value for uses in accordance with the urban renewal plan. For the purposes of this subsection, ‘rehabilitation’ or ‘conservation’ may include the restoration and renewal of a blighted, deteriorated, or deteriorating area by (1) carrying out plans for a program of voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements in accordance with the urban renewal plan; (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 such improvements as are described in clause (3) of the preceding sentence; and (4) the disposition of any property acquired in such urban renewal area (including sale, initial leasing, or retention by the local public agency itself) at its fair value for uses in accordance with the urban renewal plan. “For the purposes of this title, the term ‘project’ shall not include the construction or improvement of any building, and the term ‘rede- 68 Stat. 628 velopment’ and derivatives thereof shall mean development as well as redevelopment. For any of the purposes of section 109 hereof, the term ‘project’ shall not include any donations or provisions made as local grants-in-aid and eligible as such pursuant to clauses (2) and (3) of section 110 (d) hereof. “(d) ‘Local grants-in-aid’ shall mean assistance by a State, municipality, or other public body, or (in the case of cash grants or donations of land or other real property) any other entity, in connection with any project on which a contract for capital grant has been made under this title, in the form of (1) cash grants; (2) donations, at cash value, of land or other real property (exclusive of land in streets, alleys, and other public rights-of-way which may be vacated in connection with the project) in the urban renewal area, and demolition, removal, or other work or improvements in the urban renewal area, at the cost thereof, of the types described in clause (2) and clause (3) of either the second or third sentence of section 110 (c); and (3) the provision, at their cost, of public buildings or other public facilities (other than publicly owned housing, public facilities financed by special assessments against land in the project area, and revenue producing public utilities the capital cost of which is wholly financed with local bonds or obligations payable solely out of revenues derived from service charges) which are necessary for carrying out in the area the urban renewal objectives of this title in accordance with the urban renewal plan: Provided, That in any case where, in the determination of the Administrator, any park, playground, public building, or other public facility is of direct benefit both to the urban renewal area and to other areas, and the approximate degree of the benefit to such other areas is estimated by the Administrator at 20 per centum or more of the total benefits, the Administrator shall provide that, for the purpose of computing the amount of the local grants-in-aid for the project, there shall be included only such portion of the cost of such facility as the Administrator estimates to be proportionate to the approximate degree of the benefit of such facility to the urban renewal area: And provided further, That for the purpose of computing the amount of local grants-in-aid under this section 110 (d), the estimated cost (as determined by the Administrator) of parks, playgrounds, public buildings, or other public facilities may be deemed to be the actual cost thereof if (i) the construction or provision thereof is not completed at the time of final disposition of land in the project to be acquired and disposed of under the urban renewal plan, and (ii) the Administrator has received assurances satisfactory to him that such park, playground, public building, or other public facility will be constructed or completed when needed and within a time prescribed by him. With respect to any demolition or removal work, improvement or facility for which a State, municipality, or other public body has received or has contracted to receive any grant or subsidy from the United States, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, the portion of the cost thereof defrayed or estimated by the Administrator to be defrayed with such subsidy or grant shall not be eligible for inclusion as a local grant-in-aid. “(e) ‘Gross project cost’ shall comprise (1) the amount of the expenditures by the local public agency with respect to any and all undertakings necessary to carry out the project (including the payment of carrying charges, but not beyond the point where the project is completed), and (2) the amount of such local grants-in-aid as are furnished in forms other than cash. “(f) ‘Net project cost’ shall mean the difference between the gross project cost and the aggregate of (1) the total sales prices of all land or other property sold, and (2) the total capital values (i) imputed, 68 Stat. 629 on a basis approved by the Administrator, to all land or other property leased, and (ii) used as a basis for determining the amounts to be transferred to the project from other funds of the local public agency to compensate for any land or other property retained by it for use in accordance with the urban renewal plan. “(g) ‘Going Federal rate’ means (with respect to any contract for a loan or advance entered into after the first annual rate has been specified as provided in this sentence) the annual rate of interest which the Secretary of the Treasury shall specify as applicable to the six-month period (beginning with the six-month period ending December 31, 1953) during which the contract for loan or advance is approved by the Administrator, which applicable rate for each six-month period shall be determined by the Secretary of the Treasury by estimating the average yield to maturity, on the basis of daily closing market bid quotations or prices during the month of May or the month of November, as the case may be, next preceding such six-month period, on all outstanding marketable obligations of the United States having a maturity date of fifteen or more years from the first day of such month of May or November, and by adjusting such estimated average annual yield to the nearest one-eighth of 1 per centum. Any contract for loan made may be revised or superseded by a later contract, so that the going Federal rate, on the basis of which the interest rate on the loan is fixed, shall mean the going Federal rate, as herein defined, on the date that such contract is revised or superseded by such later contract. “(h) ‘Local public agency’ means any State, county, municipality, or other governmental entity or public body, or two or more such entities or bodies, authorized to undertake the project for which assistance is sought. ‘State’ includes the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Territories and possessions of the United States. “(i) ‘Land’ means any real property, including improved or unimproved land, structures, improvements, easements, incorporeal hereditaments, estates, and other rights in land, legal or equitable. “(j) ‘Administrator’ means the Housing and Home Finance Administrator.”