GA Code § 36-61-2 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 36 - Local Government|Chapter 61 - Urban Redevelopment|§ 36-61-2. Definitions

 As used in this chapter, the term:    "Agency" or "urban redevelopment agency" means a public agency created by Code Section 36-61-18.   "Area of operation" means the area within the corporate limits of the municipality or county and the area within five miles of such limits, except that it shall not include any area which lies within the territorial boundaries of another incorporated municipality or another county unless a resolution is adopted by the governing body of such other municipality or county declaring a need therefor.   "Board" or "commission" means a board, commission, department, division, office, body, or other unit of the municipality or county.   "Bonds" means any bonds (including refunding bonds), notes, interim certificates, certificates of indebtedness, debentures, or other obligations.   "Clerk" means the clerk or other official of the municipality or county who is the custodian of the official records of such municipality or county.   "County" means any county in this state.   "Downtown development authority" means an authority created pursuant to Chapter 42 of this title.   "Federal government" means the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America.   "Housing authority" means a housing authority created by and established pursuant to Article 1 of Chapter 3 of Title 8, the "Housing Authorities Law."   "Local governing body" means the council or other legislative body charged with governing the municipality and the board of commissioners or governing authority of the county.   "Mayor" means the mayor of a municipality or other officer or body having the duties customarily imposed upon the executive head of a municipality.   "Municipality" means any incorporated city or town in this state.   "Obligee" includes any bondholder, agents, or trustees for any bondholders, or any lessor demising to the municipality or county property used in connection with an urban redevelopment project, or any assignee or assignees of such lessor's interest or any part thereof, and the federal government when it is a party to any contract with the municipality or county.   "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, or body politic and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or other person acting in a similar representative capacity.   "Pocket of blight" means an area in which there is a predominance of buildings or improvements, whether residential or nonresidential, which by reason of dilapidation, deterioration, age, or obsolescence; inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation, or open spaces; high density of population and overcrowding; existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causes; or any combination of such factors, are conducive to ill health, transmission of disease, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, or crime and detrimental to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare. Pocket of blight also means an area which by reason 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; unsanitary or unsafe conditions; deterioration of site or other improvements; tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land; the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causes; having development impaired by airport or transportation noise or other environmental hazards; or any combination of such factors, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of a municipality or county, retards the provisions of housing accommodations, or constitutes an economic or social liability and is a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition and use.   "Pocket of blight clearance and redevelopment" may include:   Acquisition of a pocket of blight or portion thereof;   Rehabilitation or demolition and removal of buildings and improvements;   Installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other improvements necessary for carrying out in the area the urban redevelopment provisions of this chapter in accordance with the urban redevelopment plan; and   Making the land available for development or redevelopment by private enterprise or public agencies, including sale, initial leasing, or retention by the municipality or county itself, at its fair value for uses in accordance with the urban redevelopment plan.     "Public body" means the state or any municipality, county, board, commission, authority, district, housing authority, urban redevelopment agency, or other subdivision or public body of the state.   "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.   "Rehabilitation" or "conservation" may include the restoration and redevelopment of a pocket of blight or portion thereof, in accordance with an urban redevelopment plan, by:   Carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements;   Acquisition of real property and rehabilitation or demolition and removal of buildings and improvements thereon where necessary to eliminate unhealthful, unsanitary, or unsafe conditions, to lessen or increase density, to reduce traffic hazards, to eliminate obsolete or other uses detrimental to the public welfare, to otherwise remove or prevent the spread of pockets of blight or deterioration, or to provide land for needed public facilities or improvements, including, but not limited to, surface transportation projects;   Installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, transit facilities and improvements, sidewalks, streetscapes, trails, bicycle facilities, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other improvements necessary for carrying out in the area the urban redevelopment provisions of this chapter; and   The disposition of any property acquired in such urban redevelopment area, including sale, initial leasing or retention by the municipality or county itself, at its fair value for uses in accordance with the urban redevelopment plan.     "Slum clearance and redevelopment" may include:   Acquisition of a slum area or portion thereof;   Rehabilitation or demolition and removal of buildings and improvements;   Installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, transit facilities, sidewalks, streetscapes, trails, bicycle facilities, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other public facilities and improvements necessary for carrying out in the area the urban redevelopment provisions of this chapter in accordance with the urban redevelopment plan; and   Making the land available for development or redevelopment by private enterprise or public agencies (including sale, initial leasing, or retention by the municipality or county itself) at its fair value for uses in accordance with the urban redevelopment plan.     "Sponsoring local government" means the municipality or county which approves and is, directly or indirectly, providing the greatest percentage of the public funding, exclusive of federal funding, for a surface transportation project.   "Surface transportation project" means a project for public improvement and any related public facilities which is planned to impact 10,000 or more acres and at least ten transit miles within the area of operation of the sponsoring local government, including any related facilities, systems, parks, trails, streets, greenspace, and any other integrated public or private development features included within any adopted infrastructure or transportation plan, urban redevelopment plan, strategic implementation plan, redevelopment plan, workable programs, or comprehensive plans; provided that the location of such surface transportation project is wholly within a county or counties that have approved a referendum pursuant to Section 24 of an Act creating the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, approved March 10, 1965 (Ga. L. 1965, p. 2243), as amended; and provided, further, that the project is within one-half mile of a transportation/communications/utilities corridor, which has been designated by the local governing body on or before January 1, 2015, or within the boundaries of a tax allocation district authorized under the provisions of Chapter 44 of this title in effect as of January 1, 2015.   "Urban redevelopment area" means a pocket of blight which the local governing body designates as appropriate for an urban redevelopment project.   "Urban redevelopment plan" means a plan, as it exists from time to time, for an urban redevelopment project, which plan shall:   Conform to the general plan for the municipality or county as a whole; and   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 redevelopment 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.     "Urban redevelopment project" may include undertakings or activities of a municipality or county in an urban redevelopment area for the elimination and for the prevention of the development or spread of pockets of blight and may involve pocket of blight clearance and redevelopment in an urban redevelopment area, rehabilitation or conservation in an urban redevelopment area,the implementation of public improvements, including, but not limited to, surface transportation projects, or any combination or part thereof, in accordance with an urban redevelopment plan. Although the power of eminent domain may not be exercised for the following purposes, such undertakings or activities may include:   Acquisition, without regard to any requirement that the area be a pocket of blight, of air rights in an area consisting of lands and highways, railway or subway tracks, bridge or tunnel entrances, or other similar facilities which have a blighting influence on the surrounding area and over which air rights sites are to be developed for the elimination of such blighting influences and for the provision of housing and related facilities and uses designed for, and limited primarily to, families and individuals of low or moderate income; and   Construction of foundations and platforms necessary for the provision of air rights sites of housing and related facilities and uses designed for, and limited primarily to, families and individuals of low or moderate income or construction of foundations necessary for the provision of air rights sites for development of nonresidential facilities.      (Ga. L. 1955, p. 354, § 19; Ga. L. 1963, p. 644, § 1; Ga. L. 1971, p. 445, §§ 3-5; Ga. L. 1976, p. 946, §§ 2, 3; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 36; Ga. L. 1992, p. 2533, §§ 11, 12; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1318, § 1/HB 174; Ga. L. 2015, p. 1329, § 2/SB 4; Ga. L. 2016, p. 864, § 36/HB 737.)   Code Commission notes.   - Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 1992, "Authorities" was substituted for "Authority" in paragraph (9).   Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-3, in 2015, the amendment of paragraph (19) of this Code section by Ga. L. 2015, p. 1318, § 1/HB 174, was treated as impliedly repealed and superseded by Ga. L. 2015, p. 1329, § 2/SB 4, due to irreconcilable conflict.   Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2015, former paragraphs (19) through (24) were redesignated as present paragraphs (20) through (25), respectively, to maintain alphabetical order.   JUDICIAL DECISIONS    Cited in Allen v. City Council, 215 Ga. 778, 113 S.E.2d 621 (1960); Waller v. Clayton County, 200 Ga. App. 706, 409 S.E.2d 561 (1991); Franzen v. Downtown Dev. Auth. of Atlanta, 309 Ga. 411, 845 S.E.2d 539 (2020).   RESEARCH REFERENCES   Am. Jur. 2d.   - 40A Am. Jur. 2d, Housing Laws and Urban Redevelopment, §§ 1 et seq., 16, 19.   C.J.S.   - 39A C.J.S., Health and Environment, §§ 58, 59. 62 C.J.S., Municipal Corporations, §§ 1 et seq., 268, 562 et seq. 64A C.J.S., Municipal Corporations, § 1645.   ALR.   - What constitutes "Blighted Area" within urban renewal and redevelopment statutes, 45 A.L.R.3d 1096.