Opinion ID: 2308226
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Is the Property in a Redevelopment Area?

Text: The PRA and city have provided this Court with a map that depicts the areas referred to in Providence City Ordinances §§ 20-1 to 20-5. The map dissects the City of Providence into four major redevelopment areas and refers to numerous redevelopment project areas that lie within those redevelopment areas. It is significant that neither the city nor PRA has alleged that the Shipyard is blighted or substandard nor have they provided any plans for its redevelopment. [10] We believe that there is a threshold problem with concluding, on the basis of this map alone, that the property falls into a redevelopment area as intended by § 45-32-5(4): the city has not provided this Court with the requisite findings necessary to conclude that it was so designated under the statute. The map does not demonstrate that 80 percent of Providence was found by a legislative body to be blighted and substandard. See § 45-31-8(15). Indeed, § 20-1 of the city ordinance merely says that [t]he city council of the city hereby designates, in accordance with R.I.G.L. 45-32-4, the redevelopment areas as set forth in this chapter, and provides a metes and bounds description of the four areas covering nearly the entire city. The defendants argue that findings to support a conclusion that the Shipyard lies within a blighted area are unnecessary because such findings, that would limit the PRA in its ability to exercise its powers, are limitations only when dealing with assigning redevelopment projects. The defendants argue that this is inapposite to the situation at hand because the PRA has made only a purchase in a redevelopment area. However, § 45-31-8(17) clearly says that `[r]edevelopment [p]roject' means any work or undertaking of an agency pursuant to chapters 31-33 of this title. (Emphasis added.) The purchase of the Shipyard by the PRA clearly falls within the ambit of the statute and is limited by its terms. To define the term redevelopment area as the city urges would render the statutory definition meaningless. The very purpose of the PRA is to revitalize Providence by preventing and eliminating blighted areas. The statute clearly defines a blighted area and substandard area, and it includes a `slum blighted area', a `deteriorated blighted area', or an `arrested blighted area', or any combination of these areas. Section 45-31-8(3); see §§ 45-31-8(2), (6), and (18). Based upon the record before us, we are unable to conclude that the Shipyard is a blighted area; moreover, no legislative body has found that the property is in a blighted or substandard area, as the statute requires. Therefore, in our opinion, the PRA exceeded its statutory authority when it took title to the property for the purposes set forth in City Council Resolution No. 280.