I

105TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 726

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make

grants to nonprofit community organizations for the development of

open space on municipally owned vacant lots in urban areas.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FEBRUARY 12, 1997

Mrs. MALONEY of New York (for herself, Mr. BONIOR, Mrs. CARSON, Ms.

CHRISTIAN-GREEN, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. DELLUMS, Mr. EVANS, Mr.

FATTAH, Mr. FOGLIETTA, Mr. FROST, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms. JACKSONLEE of Texas, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. NADLER, Ms.

NORTON, Mr. OWENS, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SERRANO, and Mr. TOWNS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Banking

and Financial Services

A BILL

To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make grants to nonprofit community organizations for the development of open space on municipally

owned vacant lots in urban areas.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Revitalizing Cities

5 Through Parks Enhancement Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

2 The Congress finds that—

3 (1) open spaces and community parks are a

4 critically important portion of urban infrastructure;

5 (2) many inner-city areas suffer from a lack of

6 public open space for community residents to use for

7 recreation, social interaction, and relief from dense

8 urban conditions;

9 (3) vacant lots, many in public ownership as a

10 result of tax foreclosures, are common in inner-city

11 areas;

12 (4) the recent economic recession substantially

13 increased the number of such vacant lots;

14 (5) such lots often become drug trafficking

15 areas, thereby decreasing the value of surrounding

16 property and leading to higher crime rates in inner17 city areas; and

18 (6) the refurbishment of such lots, by removing

19 garbage and rubble and creating well-lighted and

20 maintained open spaces and community parks,

21 would establish positive assets for surrounding com22 munities, provide positive outlets for community

23 youth, increase property values, make other types of

24 investment in the communities more attractive, and

25 generally improve the quality of life for residents of

26 the affected communities.
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1 SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and

3 Urban Development shall, to the extent amounts are pro4 vided in appropriation Acts pursuant to section 13, make

5 grants under this Act to qualified community organiza6 tions for establishment of community open space in urban

7 areas.

8 (b) AMOUNT.—The aggregate amount of any grants

9 made under this Act to any single qualified community

10 organization in any single fiscal year may not exceed

11 $250,000.

12 SEC. 4. QUALIFIED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS.

13 A grant under this Act may be made only to a non14 profit organization that—

15 (1) has among its purposes significant activities

16 related to the improvement of the neighborhood,

17 community, or city in which any property that is to

18 be assisted with the grant under this Act is located;

19 (2) has a history of serving such neighborhood,

20 community, or city;

21 (3) maintains, through significant representa22 tion on the organization’s governing board and oth23 erwise, accountability to residents of such neighbor24 hood, community, or city; and

25 (4) complies with such standards of financial

26 accountability as the Secretary may require.
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1 SEC. 5. USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.

2 (a) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Amounts from a grant

3 made under this Act may be used by the recipient of the

4 grant only for costs relating to the establishment of com5 munity open space, as follows:

6 (1) To develop eligible municipal real property

7 for use as community open space, which shall in8 clude design, clearance, demolition, removal, beau9 tification, site improvements, and construction or in10 stallation of facilities and improvements for such

11 property.

12 (2) To lease or otherwise obtain the use of eligi13 ble municipal real property for establishment of

14 community open space.

15 (3) To maintain community open space.

16 (4) To cover other administrative costs related

17 to the establishment, development, maintenance, ad18 ministration, or management of the community open

19 space, except that not more than 10 percent of any

20 single grant made under this Act may be used for

21 costs under this paragraph.

22 (b) DEVELOPMENT PLAN REQUIREMENT.—Amounts

23 from a grant made under this Act may be used by the

24 recipient of a grant only to carry out activities under sub25 section (a) that are described in the development plan of

26 the recipient approved by the Secretary under section 7
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1 or that are described in an amendment to the development

2 plan approved by the Secretary under section 9.

3 (c) COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT REQUIREMENTS.—A

4 qualified community organization that applies for a grant

5 under this Act shall provide for involvement by interested

6 residents and organizations of the neighborhood, commu7 nity, or city in which the property to be assisted under

8 plan is located in—

9 (1) establishing the development plan under

10 section 7(b), which shall include—

11 (A) making the proposed development plan

12 available in a manner that, in the determination

13 of the Secretary, provides interested parties a

14 reasonable opportunity to examine its content

15 and to submit comments on the proposed plan;

16 and

17 (B) holding one or more public hearings to

18 obtain the views of interested parties regarding

19 the proposed plan; and

20 (2) carrying out activities under the develop21 ment plan, if the qualified community organization

22 is a recipient.
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1 SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE MUNICIPAL REAL PROPERTY.

2 Amounts from a grant under this Act may be used

3 for costs under section 5(a) relating to the establishment

4 of community open space only on real property that—

5 (1) is owned in fee simple by the unit of general

6 local government in which the property is located;

7 (2) is located in an urban area;

8 (3) is free of structures; and

9 (4) is subject to a binding commitment, entered

10 into by the unit of general local government that

11 owns the property and the eligible community orga12 nization receiving the grant, that makes the property

13 available for use and improvement under this Act as

14 community open space for a period of not less than

15 7 years.

16 SEC. 7. APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide for

18 nonprofit organizations to submit applications to the Sec19 retary for grants under this Act in such form and manner

20 as the Secretary may require to carry out the purposes

21 of this Act.

22 (b) DEVELOPMENT PLAN.—The Secretary shall re23 quire each application to include a detailed plan for the

24 use of any amounts received from a grant under this Act,

25 which shall include—
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1 (1) a description of any eligible municipal prop2 erty that is to be established as community open

3 space using such grant amounts;

4 (2) evidence of the ownership of the eligible mu5 nicipal property and the binding commitment re6 quired under section 6(4) for the property;

7 (3) a description of the nonprofit organization

8 applying for the grant that is sufficient to allow the

9 Secretary to determine whether such organization is

10 a qualified community organization;

11 (4) a description of the activities under section

12 5(a) to be conducted with amounts from the grant;

13 (5) evidence of any commitments to make as14 sistance (other than assistance under this Act) avail15 able for use in developing or maintaining the com16 munity open space;

17 (6) a description of the need for community

18 open space in the neighborhood or community in

19 which the eligible municipal property is located;

20 (7) a description of how the nonprofit organiza21 tion will provide for the maintenance of the commu22 nity open space;

23 (8) a description of the community participation

24 involved (pursuant to section 5(c)) in establishing

25 the plan, and the provisions made (pursuant to such
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1 section) for community participation in developing,

2 maintaining, administering, and managing the com3 munity open space;

4 (9) a budget specifying all of the estimated

5 costs relating to the project to establish and main6 tain the community open space; and

7 (10) any other information the Secretary con8 siders appropriate to carry out this Act.

9 SEC. 8. SELECTION AND GRANT AGREEMENTS.

10 (a) SELECTION.—From among the applications sub11 mitted under section 7, the Secretary shall select qualified

12 community organizations to receive grants under this Act

13 pursuant to a competitive selection process. The Secretary

14 shall review all applications received and may select only

15 applications containing development plans that the Sec16 retary approves as feasible and cost-effective pursuant to

17 the competitive selection process.

18 (b) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The competitive selection

19 process referred to in subsection (a) shall be based upon

20 selection criteria, which shall include—

21 (1) the extent of community involvement in the

22 establishment, development, maintenance, adminis23 tration, or management of the community open

24 space;
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1 (2) the extent of need for community open

2 space in the neighborhood or community in which

3 the eligible municipal property is located;

4 (3) the extent to which the development plan

5 for the community open space limits administrative

6 and management costs relating to the community

7 open space; and

8 (4) the extent to which commitments have been

9 made providing assistance (other than assistance

10 under this Act) for use in establishing, developing,

11 maintaining, administering, or managing the com12 munity open space.

13 (c) GRANT AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary shall enter

14 into agreements with each qualified community organiza15 tion selected to receive a grant under this section as the

16 Secretary considers necessary to ensure that amounts pro17 vided under the grant are used in accordance with the re18 quirements of this Act to carry out the development plan

19 approved under section 7 and any amendments to such

20 plan approved under section 9.

21 SEC. 9. AMENDMENTS TO DEVELOPMENT PLANS.

22 The Secretary shall provide for recipients to submit

23 amendments to development plans to the Secretary and

24 for the Secretary to review, and approve or disapprove,

25 such amendments.
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1 SEC. 10. REPORTS.

2 (a) RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary may require each

3 recipient to submit to the Secretary such reports as the

4 Secretary considers appropriate to determine whether the

5 recipient is carrying out the development plan for any

6 community open space for which the grant was made and

7 is complying with the provisions of this Act and any agree8 ments entered into under section 8(c).

9 (b) SECRETARY.—The Secretary shall submit a re10 port to the Congress not less than annually describing the

11 grants made under this Act, the recipients of the grants,

12 and the community open space provided with such grant

13 amounts.

14 SEC. 11. DEFINITIONS.

15 For purposes of this Act, the following definitions

16 shall apply:

17 (1) COMMUNITY OPEN SPACE.—The term

18 ‘‘community open space’’ means a parcel of real

19 property that is used for open space, park, play20 ground, garden, or other recreational or other simi21 lar purposes and is generally open to and available

22 for use by the public.

23 (2) NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term

24 ‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means a private organiza25 tion that—
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1 (A) is organized under State or local laws;

2 and

3 (B) has no part of its net earnings inuring

4 to the benefit of any member, shareholder,

5 founder, contributor, or individual.

6 (3) QUALIFIED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION.—

7 The term ‘‘qualified community organization’’ means

8 a nonprofit organization that complies with the re9 quirements under section 4 to be eligible to receive

10 a grant under this Act.

11 (4) RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘recipient’’ means a

12 qualified community organization that receives a

13 grant under this Act.

14 (5) URBAN AREA.—The term ‘‘urban area’’

15 means—

16 (A) a city within a standard metropolitan

17 statistical area (as established by the Office of

18 Management and Budget) which is the central

19 city of such area (as defined and used by such

20 Office); or

21 (B) a city within such a standard metro22 politan statistical area which has a population

23 of 50,000 or more.

24 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

25 the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
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1 (7) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—

2 The term ‘‘unit of general local government’’ means

3 any city, town, township, county, parish, village, or

4 other general purpose political subdivision of a

5 State.

6 (8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the

7 States of the United States, the District of Colum8 bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Com9 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam,

10 the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other

11 territory or possession of the United States.

12 SEC. 12. REGULATIONS.

13 The Secretary shall issue any regulations necessary

14 to carry out this Act.

15 SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

16 There is authorized to be appropriated for grants

17 under this Act $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1998 and

18 $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1999.

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