§ 45-32-5. Corporate powers of agencies.
(a) Each redevelopment agency constitutes a public body, corporate and politic, exercising
public and essential governmental functions, and has all the powers necessary and
convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of chapters 31
— 33 of this title, including the powers enumerated in this section in addition to
others granted by these chapters:
(1) To sue and be sued; to borrow money; to compromise and settle claims; to have a seal;
and to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to
the exercise of its powers.
(2) To make, and, from time to time, amend and repeal bylaws, rules, and regulations,
consistent with chapters 31 — 33 of this title, to carry into effect the powers and
purposes of these chapters.
(3) To select and appoint officers, agents, counsel, and employees, permanent and temporary,
as it may require, and determine their qualifications, duties, and compensation.
(4) Within the redevelopment area or for purposes of redevelopment: to purchase, lease,
obtain an option upon, acquire by gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise, any
real or personal property, or any estate or interest in it, together with any improvements
on it; to acquire by the exercise of the power of eminent domain any real property
or any estate or interest in it, although temporarily not required to achieve the
purposes of chapters 31 — 33 of this title; to clear, demolish, or remove any and
all buildings, structures, or other improvements from any real property so acquired;
to rehabilitate or otherwise improve any or all substandard buildings, structures,
or other improvements; to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal
property or operations of the agency against risk or hazard; and to rent, maintain,
rehabilitate, improve, manage, operate, repair, and clear the property.
(5) To develop as a building site or sites any real property owned or acquired by it.
(6) To cause streets and highways to be laid out and graded, and pavements or other road
surfacing, sidewalks, and curbs, public utilities of every kind, parks, playgrounds,
and other recreational areas, off-street parking areas and other public improvements
to be constructed and installed.
(7) To prepare or have prepared all plans necessary for the redevelopment of blighted
and substandard areas; with the consent and approval of the community planning commission,
to carry on and perform, for and on behalf of the commission, all or any part of the
planning activities and functions within the community; to undertake and perform,
for the community, industrial, commercial, and family relocation services; to obtain
appraisals and title searches; to make investigations, studies, and surveys of physical,
economic, and social conditions and trends pertaining to a community; to develop,
test, and report methods and techniques and carry out research and other activities
for the prevention and the elimination of blighted and substandard conditions and
to apply for, accept, and utilize grants of funds from the federal government and
other sources for those purposes; and to enter upon any building or property in any
redevelopment area in order to make investigations, studies, and surveys, and, in
the event entry is denied or resisted, an agency may petition the superior court in
and for the county in which the land lies for an order for this purpose. Upon the
filing of a petition, due notice of it shall be served on the person denying or resisting
entry, and after a hearing on the petition, the court shall enter an order granting
or denying the petition.
(8) To undertake technical assistance to property owners and other private persons to
encourage, implement, and facilitate voluntary improvement of real property.
(9) To undertake and carry out code enforcement projects pursuant to the provisions of
appropriate federal legislation.
(10) To invest any funds held in reserves or sinking funds or any funds not required for
immediate disbursement, in property or securities in which savings banks may legally
invest funds subject to their control; and to purchase its bonds at a price not more
than the principal amount and accrued interest, all bonds so purchased to be cancelled.
(11) To lend money, and to sell, lease, exchange, subdivide, transfer, assign, pledge,
encumber (by mortgage, deed of trust, or otherwise), or otherwise dispose of any real
or personal property or any estate or interest in it acquired under the provisions
of chapters 31 — 33 of this title, to the United States, the state government, any
state public body, or any private corporation, firm, or individual at its fair value
for uses in accordance with the redevelopment plan, irrespective of the cost of acquiring
and preparing the property for redevelopment. In determining the fair value of the
property for uses in accordance with the redevelopment plan, the agency shall take
into account, and give consideration to, the uses and purposes required by the plan,
the restrictions upon, and the obligations assumed by the purchaser or lessee of the
property, and the objectives of the redevelopment plan for the prevention of the recurrence
of blighted and substandard conditions. Any lease or sale of the property may be made
without public bidding, provided that no sale or lease is made until at least ten
(10) days after the legislative body of the community has received from the agency
a report concerning the proposed sale or lease.
(12) To obligate the purchaser or lessee of any real or personal property or any estate
or interest in it to:
(i) Use the property only for the purpose and in the manner stated in the redevelopment
plan;
(ii) Begin and complete the construction or rehabilitation of any structure or improvement
within a period of time that the agency fixes as reasonable; and
(iii) Comply with other conditions that, in the opinion of the agency are necessary to prevent
the recurrence of blighted and substandard conditions and otherwise to carry out the
purposes of chapters 31 — 33 of this title. The agency, by contractual provisions,
may make any of the purchasers' or lessees' obligations, covenants, or conditions
running with the land, and may provide that, upon breach thereof, the fee reverts
to the agency.
(13) To exercise all or any part or combination of the powers granted in this chapter.
(14) To construct new buildings for residential, recreational, commercial, industrial,
institutional, public, or other uses contemplated by the redevelopment plan.
(15) To grant or loan any redevelopment project revenues, or other revenues, including
the proceeds of any issue of bonds or notes issued pursuant to this chapter to an
individual or any nonprofit organization or governmental or quasi-governmental entity
or private enterprise, in order to finance the cost of any portion of a redevelopment
project authorized pursuant to chapters 31 through 33 of this title, including, without
limiting the generality of the foregoing, the cost of acquiring land for, and constructing
or rehabilitating, furnishing and equipping residential, commercial, industrial, institutional,
public, or recreational facilities, within a redevelopment area, or to loan bond or
note proceeds in order to refinance any such loans.
(16) To retain a master developer for all or any portion of a project. Any master developer
position shall be subject to advertising and solicitation of applicants shall be approved
at a duly posted public meeting of the agency.
(b) [Deleted by P.L. 2019, ch. 118, § 3 and P.L. 2019, ch. 143, § 3].