NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1979 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 1115

HOUSE BILL 1628

 

 

AN ACT TO ALLOW THE TOWN OF TARBORO TO ENTER CONTRACTS FOR THE REDEVELOPMENT OF LAND IN ADVANCE OF ITS ACQUISITION, TO DISPOSE OF LAND AT PRIVATE SALE AND TO ENGAGE IN JOINT ACTIVITY FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBTAINING AND EXECUTING URBAN DEVELOPMENT ACTION GRANTS.

 

Whereas, the Congress of the United States enacted the Housing and Community Development Act of 1977 (Public Law 95-128) which as amended authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make Urban Development Action Grants to severely distressed cities and towns which require increased public assistance and private investment to alleviate physical and economic deterioration; and

Whereas, assistance is being made available under this federal program for economic revitalization in competing communities throughout the nation with population out-migration or stagnating or declining tax base, and for reclamation of neighborhoods, having excessive housing abandonment or deterioration; and

Whereas, the Town of Tarboro filed an application with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and has received preliminary approval of said application for an Urban Development Action Grant; and

Whereas; the regulations promulgated by HUD require evidence of commitment of both public and private resources which will be available for completing the project; and that such commitments be legally binding under the State and local law; and

Whereas, the following is enacted for the purpose of insuring that the Town of Tarboro can legally accept said Grant and comply with the commitments and requirement of HUD in the acceptance of said Grant and the execution of the project thereunder; Now, therefore,

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1. G.S. 160A-457 is amended by deleting the word "and" at the end of the subdivision (2) and adding the following new subdivisions at the end to read as follows:

"(4)      to enter into contracts or agreements with any person, firm, association or corporation to undertake and carry out specified activities in furtherance of the purposes of urban development action grants authorized by the Housing and Community Development Act of 1977 (P.L. 95-128). Such contracts may be negotiated and entered into prior to the actual acquisition or redevelopment of any real property obtained for the purposes authorized by this Part, and such contracts shall be binding legal commitments for accomplishing the purposes set forth therein; and

(5)       in addition to the powers granted in subdivision (3) above, to lease and/or convey at private sale to any person, firm, corporation, or governmental unit particular properties within a redevelopment area where it finds the proposed redeveloper is the only known available, qualified and willing redeveloper for the contemplated use and makes one or more of the following findings, which said findings shall be verified and approved by the governing body of the municipality after a public hearing, notice of which shall be given once a week for two successive calendar weeks in a newspaper published in the municipality or by posting such notice at four public places in the municipality, said notice to be published the first time, or posted, not less than 15 days prior to the date fixed for said hearing:

a.         that the proposed use or redevelopment is necessary in order to facilitate the relocation of persons or firms displaced by an urban development action grant project or other governmental action;

b.         that the proposed use or redevelopment is reasonably necessary in order to assure development which will have the desired beneficial effect upon neighboring property, the project area, and the community as a whole, as contemplated by the redevelopment plan;

c.         that the proposed use or redevelopment will assure that the property will not remain unused for an unduly long period and will result in a return to the local ad valorem tax rolls at a substantially earlier date than uses or redevelopments obtainable by other methods of disposition.

Such lease or conveyance, or both, shall be for such consideration as may be agreed upon by the city and the redeveloper and approved by the governing body of the municipality, which shall not be less than the fair, actual value of the property as determined by the governing body of the municipality, based on competent evidence. All leases and/or conveyances made under the authority of this subsection shall contain restrictive covenants limiting the use of the property so conveyed to the designated purpose for which the lease and/or conveyance is made, provided, that the disposition of property at private sale as authorized in subdivision (5) shall be expressly limited to property used in connection with urban development action grants and other redevelopment and community development projects and for no other purpose under this Part."

Sec. 2. If any provision of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remainder of this act.

Sec. 3. This act shall apply only to the Town of Tarboro.

Sec. 4. This act is effective upon ratification.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 19th day of June, 1980.