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. JACKSON-
LEE of Texas, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. NADLER, Ms.
NORTON, Mr. OWENS, Mr. RUSH, Mr. SERRANO, and Mr. TOWNS) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Banking
and Financial Services
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Develop-
ment to make grants to nonprofit community organiza-
tions for the development of open space on municipally
owned vacant lots in urban areas.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Revitalizing Cities
Through Parks Enhancement Act’’.
SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) open spaces and community parks are a
critically important portion of urban infrastructure;
(2) many inner-city areas suffer from a lack of
public open space for community residents to use for
recreation, social interaction, and relief from dense
urban conditions;
(3) vacant lots, many in public ownership as a
result of tax foreclosures, are common in inner-city
areas;
(4) the recent economic recession substantially
increased the number of such vacant lots;
(5) such lots often become drug trafficking
areas, thereby decreasing the value of surrounding
property and leading to higher crime rates in inner-
city areas; and
(6) the refurbishment of such lots, by removing
garbage and rubble and creating well-lighted and
maintained open spaces and community parks,
would establish positive assets for surrounding com-
munities, provide positive outlets for community
youth, increase property values, make other types of
investment in the communities more attractive, and
generally improve the quality of life for residents of
the affected communities.
SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Housing and
Urban Development shall, to the extent amounts are pro-
vided in appropriation Acts pursuant to section 13, make
grants under this Act to qualified community organiza-
tions for establishment of community open space in urban
areas.
(b) AMOUNT.—The aggregate amount of any grants
made under this Act to any single qualified community
organization in any single fiscal year may not exceed
$250,000.
SEC. 4. QUALIFIED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS.
A grant under this Act may be made only to a non-
profit organization that—
(1) has among its purposes significant activities
related to the improvement of the neighborhood,
community, or city in which any property that is to
be assisted with the grant under this Act is located;
(2) has a history of serving such neighborhood,
community, or city;
(3) maintains, through significant representa-
tion on the organization’s governing board and oth-
erwise, accountability to residents of such neighbor-
hood, community, or city; and
(4) complies with such standards of financial
accountability as the Secretary may require.
SEC. 5. USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.
(a) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—Amounts from a grant
made under this Act may be used by the recipient of the
grant only for costs relating to the establishment of com-
munity open space, as follows:
(1) To develop eligible municipal real property
for use as community open space, which shall in-
clude design, clearance, demolition, removal, beau-
tification, site improvements, and construction or in-
stallation of facilities and improvements for such
property.
(2) To lease or otherwise obtain the use of eligi-
ble municipal real property for establishment of
community open space.
(3) To maintain community open space.
(4) To cover other administrative costs related
to the establishment, development, maintenance, ad-
ministration, or management of the community open
space, except that not more than 10 percent of any
single grant made under this Act may be used for
costs under this paragraph.
(b) DEVELOPMENT PLAN REQUIREMENT.—Amounts
from a grant made under this Act may be used by the
recipient of a grant only to carry out activities under sub-
section (a) that are described in the development plan of
the recipient approved by the Secretary under section 7
or that are described in an amendment to the development
plan approved by the Secretary under section 9.
(c) COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT REQUIREMENTS.—A
qualified community organization that applies for a grant
under this Act shall provide for involvement by interested
residents and organizations of the neighborhood, commu-
nity, or city in which the property to be assisted under
plan is located in—
(1) establishing the development plan under
section 7(b), which shall include—
(A) making the proposed development plan
available in a manner that, in the determination
of the Secretary, provides interested parties a
reasonable opportunity to examine its content
and to submit comments on the proposed plan;
and
(B) holding one or more public hearings to
obtain the views of interested parties regarding
the proposed plan; and
(2) carrying out activities under the develop-
ment plan, if the qualified community organization
is a recipient.
SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE MUNICIPAL REAL PROPERTY.
Amounts from a grant under this Act may be used
for costs under section 5(a) relating to the establishment
of community open space only on real property that—
(1) is owned in fee simple by the unit of general
local government in which the property is located;
(2) is located in an urban area;
(3) is free of structures; and
(4) is subject to a binding commitment, entered
into by the unit of general local government that
owns the property and the eligible community orga-
nization receiving the grant, that makes the property
available for use and improvement under this Act as
community open space for a period of not less than
7 years.
SEC. 7. APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall provide for
nonprofit organizations to submit applications to the Sec-
retary for grants under this Act in such form and manner
as the Secretary may require to carry out the purposes
of this Act.
(b) DEVELOPMENT PLAN.—The Secretary shall re-
quire each application to include a detailed plan for the
use of any amounts received from a grant under this Act,
which shall include—
(1) a description of any eligible municipal prop-
erty that is to be established as community open
space using such grant amounts;
(2) evidence of the ownership of the eligible mu-
nicipal property and the binding commitment re-
quired under section 6(4) for the property;
(3) a description of the nonprofit organization
applying for the grant that is sufficient to allow the
Secretary to determine whether such organization is
a qualified community organization;
(4) a description of the activities under section
5(a) to be conducted with amounts from the grant;
(5) evidence of any commitments to make as-
sistance (other than assistance under this Act) avail-
able for use in developing or maintaining the com-
munity open space;
(6) a description of the need for community
open space in the neighborhood or community in
which the eligible municipal property is located;
(7) a description of how the nonprofit organiza-
tion will provide for the maintenance of the commu-
nity open space;
(8) a description of the community participation
involved (pursuant to section 5(c)) in establishing
the plan, and the provisions made (pursuant to such
section) for community participation in developing,
maintaining, administering, and managing the com-
munity open space;
(9) a budget specifying all of the estimated
costs relating to the project to establish and main-
tain the community open space; and
(10) any other information the Secretary con-
siders appropriate to carry out this Act.
SEC. 8. SELECTION AND GRANT AGREEMENTS.
(a) SELECTION.—From among the applications sub-
mitted under section 7, the Secretary shall select qualified
community organizations to receive grants under this Act
pursuant to a competitive selection process. The Secretary
shall review all applications received and may select only
applications containing development plans that the Sec-
retary approves as feasible and cost-effective pursuant to
the competitive selection process.
(b) SELECTION CRITERIA.—The competitive selection
process referred to in subsection (a) shall be based upon
selection criteria, which shall include—
(1) the extent of community involvement in the
establishment, development, maintenance, adminis-
tration, or management of the community open
space;
(2) the extent of need for community open
space in the neighborhood or community in which
the eligible municipal property is located;
(3) the extent to which the development plan
for the community open space limits administrative
and management costs relating to the community
open space; and
(4) the extent to which commitments have been
made providing assistance (other than assistance
under this Act) for use in establishing, developing,
maintaining, administering, or managing the com-
munity open space.
(c) GRANT AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary shall enter
into agreements with each qualified community organiza-
tion selected to receive a grant under this section as the
Secretary considers necessary to ensure that amounts pro-
vided under the grant are used in accordance with the re-
quirements of this Act to carry out the development plan
approved under section 7 and any amendments to such
plan approved under section 9.
SEC. 9. AMENDMENTS TO DEVELOPMENT PLANS.
The Secretary shall provide for recipients to submit
amendments to development plans to the Secretary and
for the Secretary to review, and approve or disapprove,
such amendments.
SEC. 10. REPORTS.
(a) RECIPIENTS.—The Secretary may require each
recipient to submit to the Secretary such reports as the
Secretary considers appropriate to determine whether the
recipient is carrying out the development plan for any
community open space for which the grant was made and
is complying with the provisions of this Act and any agree-
ments entered into under section 8(c).
(b) SECRETARY.—The Secretary shall submit a re-
port to the Congress not less than annually describing the
grants made under this Act, the recipients of the grants,
and the community open space provided with such grant
amounts.
SEC. 11. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act, the following definitions
shall apply:
(1) COMMUNITY
OPEN
SPACE.—The term
‘‘community open space’’ means a parcel of real
property that is used for open space, park, play-
ground, garden, or other recreational or other simi-
lar purposes and is generally open to and available
for use by the public.
(2) NONPROFIT
ORGANIZATION.—The term
‘‘nonprofit organization’’ means a private organiza-
tion that—
(A) is organized under State or local laws;
and
(B) has no part of its net earnings inuring
to the benefit of any member, shareholder,
founder, contributor, or individual.
(3) QUALIFIED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION.—
The term ‘‘qualified community organization’’ means
a nonprofit organization that complies with the re-
quirements under section 4 to be eligible to receive
a grant under this Act.
(4) RECIPIENT.—The term ‘‘recipient’’ means a
qualified community organization that receives a
grant under this Act.
(5) URBAN
AREA.—The term ‘‘urban area’’
means—
(A) a city within a standard metropolitan
statistical area (as established by the Office of
Management and Budget) which is the central
city of such area (as defined and used by such
Office); or
(B) a city within such a standard metro-
politan statistical area which has a population
of 50,000 or more.
(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
(7) UNIT OF GENERAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—
The term ‘‘unit of general local government’’ means
any city, town, township, county, parish, village, or
other general purpose political subdivision of a
State.
(8) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means the
States of the United States, the District of Colum-
bia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Com-
monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam,
the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other
territory or possession of the United States.
SEC. 12. REGULATIONS.
The Secretary shall issue any regulations necessary
to carry out this Act.
SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There is authorized to be appropriated for grants
under this Act $10,000,000 for fiscal year 1998 and
$10,000,000 for fiscal year 1999.
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