The following terms wherever used or referred to in this chapter, shall have the following
meanings, unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context:
1. “Affected taxing entity” means a city, county, or school district which levied or certified
forlevyapropertytaxonanyportionofthetaxablepropertylocatedwithintheurbanrenewal
areainthefiscalyearbeginningpriortothecalendaryearinwhichaproposedurbanrenewal
plan is submitted to the local governing body for approval.
2. “Agency” or “urban renewal agency” shall mean a public agency created by section
403.15.
3. a. “Agricultural land” means real property owned by a person in tracts of ten acres or
moreandnotlaidoffintolotsoflessthantenacresordividedbystreetsandalleysintoparcels
of less than ten acres, and that has been used for the production of agricultural commodities
during three out of the past five years. Such use of property includes but is not limited to
the raising, harvesting, handling, drying, or storage of crops used for feed, food, seed, or
fiber; the care or feeding of livestock; the handling or transportation of crops or livestock;
the storage, treatment, or disposal of livestock manure; and the application of fertilizers,
beneficial substances, pesticides, and herbicides on crops.
b. “Agricultural land” includes land on which is located farm residences or outbuildings
usedforagriculturalpurposesandlandonwhichislocatedfacilities,structures,orequipment
for agricultural purposes.
c. “Agricultural land” includes land taken out of agricultural production for purposes of
environmental protection or preservation.
4. “Area of operation” of a city means the area within the corporate limits of the city and,
with the consent of the county, the area within two miles of such limits, except that it does
not include any area which lies within the territorial boundaries of another incorporated city,
unless a resolution has been adopted by the governing body of the city declaring a need to be
included in the area. The “area of operation” of a county means an area outside the corporate
limits of a city. However, in that area outside a city’s boundary but within two miles of the
city’s boundary, a joint agreement between the city and the county is required allowing the
county to proceed with the activities authorized under this chapter. In addition, a county
may proceed with activities authorized under this chapter in an area inside the boundaries
of a city, provided a joint agreement is entered into with respect to such activities between a
city and a county.
5. “Blighted area” means an area of a municipality within which the local governing
body of the municipality determines that the presence of a substantial number of slum,
deteriorated, or deteriorating structures; defective or inadequate street layout; faulty
lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness; insanitary or unsafe
conditions; deterioration of site or other improvements; diversity of ownership, tax or
special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land; defective or unusual
conditions of title; or the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and
other causes; or any combination of these factors; substantially impairs or arrests the sound
growth of a municipality, retards the provision of housing accommodations, or constitutes
an economic or social liability and is a menace to the public health, safety, or welfare in
its present condition and use. A disaster area referred to in section 403.5, subsection 7,
constitutes a “blighted area”. “Blighted area” does not include real property assessed as
agricultural property for purposes of property taxation.
6. “Board” or “commission” shall mean a board, commission, department, division, office,
body, or other unit of the municipality.
7. “Bonds” shall mean any bonds, including refunding bonds, notes, interim certificates,
certificates of indebtedness, debentures, or other obligations.
8. “Chairperson of the board” means the chairperson of the board of supervisors or other
legislative body charged with governing a county.
9. “Clerk” shall mean the clerk or other official of the municipality who is the custodian
of the official records of such municipality.
10. “Economic development area” means an area of a municipality designated by the
local governing body as appropriate for commercial and industrial enterprises, public
improvements related to housing and residential development, or construction of housing
and residential development for low and moderate income families, including single or
multifamily housing. If an urban renewal plan for an urban renewal area is based upon a
finding that the area is an economic development area and that no part contains slum or
blighted conditions, then the division of revenue provided in section 403.19 and stated in the
plan shall be limited to twenty years from the calendar year following the calendar year in
which the municipality first certifies to the county auditor the amount of any loans, advances,
indebtedness, or bonds which qualify for payment from the division of revenue provided in
section403.19. Suchdesignatedareashallnotincludeagriculturalland, includinglandwhich
is part of a century farm, unless the owner of the agricultural land or century farm agrees to
include the agricultural land or century farm in the urban renewal area. For the purposes of
this subsection, “century farm” means a farm in which at least forty acres of such farm have
been held in continuous ownership by the same family for one hundred years or more.
11. “Federalgovernment”shallincludetheUnitedStatesoranyagencyorinstrumentality,
corporate or otherwise, of the United States.
12. “Housing and residential development” means single or multifamily dwellings to be
constructed in an area with respect to which the local governing body of the municipality
determines that there is an inadequate supply of affordable, decent, safe, and sanitary
housing and that providing such housing is important to meeting any or all of the
following objectives: retaining existing industrial or commercial enterprises; attracting and
encouraging the location of new industrial or commercial enterprises; meeting the needs
of special elements of the population, such as the elderly or persons with disabilities; and
providing housing for various income levels of the population which may not be adequately
served.
13. “Local governing body” means the council, board of supervisors, or other legislative
body charged with governing the municipality.
14. “Low or moderate income families” means those families, including single person
households, earning no more than eighty percent of the higher of the median family income
of the county or the statewide nonmetropolitan area as determined by the latest United
States department of housing and urban development, section 8 income guidelines.
15. “Mayor” shall mean the mayor of a municipality, or other officer or body having the
duties customarily imposed upon the executive head of a municipality.
16. “Municipality” means any city or county in the state.
17. “Obligee” shall include any bondholder, agents, or trustees for any bondholders, or
any lessor demising to the municipality property used in connection with an urban renewal
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.
18. “Person” shall mean any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company,
association, joint stock association; and shall include any trustee, receiver, assignee, or other
person acting in a similar representative capacity for an individual or such entities.
19. “Public body” shall mean the state or any political subdivision thereof.
20. “Public officer” shall mean any officer who is in charge of any department or branch
of the government of the municipality relating to health, fire, building regulations, or to other
activities concerning dwellings in the municipality.
21. “Real property” shall include 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.
22. “Slum area” shall mean 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; by reason of inadequate provision for ventilation, light,
air, sanitation, or open spaces; by reason of high density of population and overcrowding;
by reason of the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other
causes; or which by any combination of such factors, is conducive to ill health, transmission
of disease, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, or crime, and which is detrimental to the
public health, safety, morals, or welfare. “Slum area” does not include real property assessed
as agricultural property for purposes of property taxation.
23. “Urban renewal area” means a slum area, blighted area, economic development area,
or combination of the areas, which the local governing body designates as appropriate for an
urban renewal project.
24. “Urban renewal plan” means a plan for the development, redevelopment,
improvement, or rehabilitation of a designated urban renewal area, as it exists from time to
time. The plan shall meet the following requirements:
a. Conform to the general plan for the municipality as a whole except as provided in
section 403.5, subsection 7.
b. Be sufficiently complete to indicate the real property located in the urban renewal
area to be acquired for the proposed development, redevelopment, improvement, or
rehabilitation, and to indicate any zoning district changes, existing and future land uses, and
the local objectives respecting development, redevelopment, improvement, or rehabilitation
related to the future land uses plan, and need for improved traffic, public transportation,
public utilities, recreational and community facilities, and other public improvements within
the urban renewal area.
c. If the plan includes a provision for the division of taxes as provided in section 403.19,
the plan shall also include a list of the current general obligation debt of the municipality, the
currentconstitutionaldebtlimitofthemunicipality,andtheproposedamountofindebtedness
to be incurred, including loans, advances, indebtedness, or bonds which qualify for payment
from the special fund referred to in section 403.19, subsection 2.
25. “Urban renewal project” may include undertakings and activities of a municipality
in an urban renewal area for the elimination and for the prevention of the development
or spread of slums and blight, may include the designation and development of an
economic development area in an urban renewal area, and may involve slum clearance
and redevelopment in an urban renewal area, or rehabilitation or conservation in an urban
renewal area, or any combination or part thereof in accordance with an urban renewal
program. The undertakings and activities may include:
a. Acquisition of a slum area, blighted area, economic development area, or portion of the
areas;
b. Demolition and removal of buildings and improvements;
c. Installation, construction, orreconstructionofstreets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and
other improvements necessary for carrying out in the urban renewal area the urban renewal
objectives of this chapter in accordance with the urban renewal plan;
d. Disposition of any property acquired in the urban renewal area, including sale, initial
leasing, or retention by the municipality itself, at its fair value for uses in accordance with the
urban renewal plan;
e. Carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation
of buildings or other improvements in accordance with the urban renewal plan;
f. Acquisition of any other real property in the urban renewal area, where necessary to
eliminateunhealthful,insanitary,orunsafeconditions,ortolessendensity,eliminateobsolete
or other uses detrimental to the public welfare, or otherwise to remove or prevent the spread
of blight or deterioration, or to provide land for needed public facilities;
g. Sale and conveyance of real property in furtherance of an urban renewal project;
h. Expenditure of proceeds of bonds issued before October 7, 1986, for the construction
of parking facilities on city blocks adjacent to an urban renewal area.