Community redevelopment plans.

(1) Community redevelopment in a community redevelopment area shall not be planned or initiated unless the governing body has, by resolution, determined such area to be a slum area, a blighted area, or an area in which there is a shortage of housing affordable to residents of low or moderate income, including the elderly, or a combination thereof, and designated such area as appropriate for community redevelopment.

(2) The community redevelopment plan shall:

(a) Conform to the comprehensive plan for the county or municipality as prepared by the local planning agency under the Community Planning Act.

(b) 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 community redevelopment area; zoning and planning changes, if any; land uses; maximum densities; and building requirements.

(c) Provide for the development of affordable housing in the area, or state the reasons for not addressing in the plan the development of affordable housing in the area. The county, municipality, or community redevelopment agency shall coordinate with each housing authority or other affordable housing entities functioning within the geographic boundaries of the redevelopment area, concerning the development of affordable housing in the area.

(3) The community redevelopment plan may provide for the development and implementation of community policing innovations.

(4) The county, municipality, or community redevelopment agency may itself prepare or cause to be prepared a community redevelopment plan, or any person or agency, public or private, may submit such a plan to a community redevelopment agency. Prior to its consideration of a community redevelopment plan, the community redevelopment agency shall submit such plan to the local planning agency of the county or municipality for review and recommendations as to its conformity with the comprehensive plan for the development of the county or municipality as a whole. The local planning agency shall submit its written recommendations with respect to the conformity of the proposed community redevelopment plan to the community redevelopment agency within 60 days after receipt of the plan for review. Upon receipt of the recommendations of the local planning agency, or, if no recommendations are received within such 60 days, then without such recommendations, the community redevelopment agency may proceed with its consideration of the proposed community redevelopment plan.

(5) The community redevelopment agency shall submit any community redevelopment plan it recommends for approval, together with its written recommendations, to the governing body and to each taxing authority that levies ad valorem taxes on taxable real property contained within the geographic boundaries of the redevelopment area. The governing body shall then proceed with the hearing on the proposed community redevelopment plan as prescribed by subsection (6).

(6)(a) The governing body shall hold a public hearing on a community redevelopment plan after public notice thereof by publication in a newspaper having a general circulation in the area of operation of the county or municipality. The notice shall describe the time, date, place, and purpose of the hearing, identify generally the community redevelopment area covered by the plan, and outline the general scope of the community redevelopment plan under consideration.

(b) For any governing body that has not authorized by June 5, 2006, a study to consider whether a finding of necessity resolution pursuant to s. 163.355 should be adopted, has not adopted a finding of necessity resolution pursuant to s. 163.355 by March 31, 2007, has not adopted a community redevelopment plan by June 7, 2007, and was not authorized to exercise community redevelopment powers pursuant to a delegation of authority under s. 163.410 by a county that has adopted a home rule charter, the following additional procedures are required prior to adoption by the governing body of a community redevelopment plan under subsection (7):

1. Within 30 days after receipt of any community redevelopment plan recommended by a community redevelopment agency under subsection (5), the county may provide written notice by registered mail to the governing body of the municipality and to the community redevelopment agency that the county has competing policy goals and plans for the public funds the county would be required to deposit to the community redevelopment trust fund under the proposed community redevelopment plan.

2. If the notice required in subparagraph 1. is timely provided, the governing body of the county and the governing body of the municipality that created the community redevelopment agency shall schedule and hold a joint hearing co-chaired by the chair of the governing body of the county and the mayor of the municipality, with the agenda to be set by the chair of the governing body of the county, at which the competing policy goals for the public funds shall be discussed. For those community redevelopment agencies for which the board of commissioners of the community redevelopment agency are comprised as specified in s. 163.356(2), a designee of the community redevelopment agency shall participate in the joint meeting as a nonvoting member. Any such hearing must be held within 90 days after receipt by the county of the recommended community redevelopment plan. Prior to the joint public hearing, the county may propose an alternative redevelopment plan that meets the requirements of this section to address the conditions identified in the resolution making a finding of necessity required by s. 163.355. If such an alternative redevelopment plan is proposed by the county, such plan shall be delivered to the governing body of the municipality that created the community redevelopment agency and to the executive director or other officer of the community redevelopment agency by registered mail at least 30 days prior to holding the joint meeting.

3. If the notice required in subparagraph 1. is timely provided, the municipality may not proceed with the adoption of the plan under subsection (7) until 30 days after the joint hearing unless the governing body of the county has failed to schedule or a majority of the members of the governing body of the county have failed to attend the joint hearing within the required 90-day period.

4. Notwithstanding the time requirements established in subparagraphs 2. and 3., the county and the municipality may at any time voluntarily use the dispute resolution process established in chapter 164 to attempt to resolve any competing policy goals between the county and municipality related to the community redevelopment agency. Nothing in this subparagraph grants the county or the municipality the authority to require the other local government to participate in the dispute resolution process.

(7) Following such hearing, the governing body may approve the community redevelopment and the plan therefor if it finds that:

(a) A feasible method exists for the location of families who will be displaced from the community redevelopment area in decent, safe, and sanitary dwelling accommodations within their means and without undue hardship to such families;

(b) The community redevelopment plan conforms to the general plan of the county or municipality as a whole;

(c) The community redevelopment plan gives due consideration to the utilization of community policing innovations, and to the provision of adequate park and recreational areas and facilities that may be desirable for neighborhood improvement, with special consideration for the health, safety, and welfare of children residing in the general vicinity of the site covered by the plans;

(d) The community redevelopment plan will afford maximum opportunity, consistent with the sound needs of the county or municipality as a whole, for the rehabilitation or redevelopment of the community redevelopment area by private enterprise; and

(e) The community redevelopment plan and resulting revitalization and redevelopment for a coastal tourist area that is deteriorating and economically distressed will reduce or maintain evacuation time, as appropriate, and ensure protection for property against exposure to natural disasters.

(8) If the community redevelopment area consists of an area of open land to be acquired by the county or the municipality, such area may not be so acquired unless:

(a) In the event the area is to be developed in whole or in part for residential uses, the governing body determines:

1. That a shortage of housing of sound standards and design which is decent, safe, affordable to residents of low or moderate income, including the elderly, and sanitary exists in the county or municipality;

2. That the need for housing accommodations has increased in the area;

3. That the conditions of blight in the area or the shortage of decent, safe, affordable, and sanitary housing cause or contribute to an increase in and spread of disease and crime or constitute a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare; and

4. That the acquisition of the area for residential uses is an integral part of and is essential to the program of the county or municipality.

(b) In the event the area is to be developed in whole or in part for nonresidential uses, the governing body determines that:

1. Such nonresidential uses are necessary and appropriate to facilitate the proper growth and development of the community in accordance with sound planning standards and local community objectives.

2. Acquisition may require the exercise of governmental action, as provided in this part, because of:

a. Defective, or unusual conditions of, title or diversity of ownership which prevents the free alienability of such land;

b. Tax delinquency;

c. Improper subdivisions;

d. Outmoded street patterns;

e. Deterioration of site;

f. Economic disuse;

g. Unsuitable topography or faulty lot layouts;

h. Lack of correlation of the area with other areas of a county or municipality by streets and modern traffic requirements; or

i. Any combination of such factors or other conditions which retard development of the area.

3. Conditions of blight in the area contribute to an increase in and spread of disease and crime or constitute a menace to public health, safety, morals, or welfare.

(9) Upon the approval by the governing body of a community redevelopment plan or of any modification thereof, such plan or modification shall be deemed to be in full force and effect for the respective community redevelopment area, and the county or municipality may then cause the community redevelopment agency to carry out such plan or modification in accordance with its terms.

(10) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this part, when the governing body certifies that an area is in need of redevelopment or rehabilitation as a result of an emergency under s. 252.34(4), with respect to which the Governor has certified the need for emergency assistance under federal law, that area may be certified as a “blighted area,” and the governing body may approve a community redevelopment plan and community redevelopment with respect to such area without regard to the provisions of this section requiring a general plan for the county or municipality and a public hearing on the community redevelopment.