§ 500.108. Agency Powers.

(a)

The Agencies shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this Chapter, including the following powers in addition to others herein granted. These powers are subject to availability of funds in each Trust Fund and, as applicable, the approval of the City Council:

(1)

To prescribe rules, regulations and policies and to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers under this Chapter;

(2)

To receive, administer, and comply with conditions and requirements respecting any gift, grant, or donation of any property or money to the Agency from any source, whether federal, state, or private, and to make, administer and establish conditions and requirements respecting gifts, grants and donations of property or money made by the City to effectuate the purposes of this Chapter;

(3)

To approve and authorize, subject to available funds in the applicable Agency's Trust Fund, financing agreements, contracts, deeds, and other instruments necessary or convenient in the exercise of the powers and functions of the Agencies under this Chapter, including contracts with persons, firms, corporations, federal and state agencies, to facilitate residential development and related commercial, office, and light industrial development and the financing, construction, leasing, or sale of any project. Except regarding the Downtown Investment Authority, the Mayor is authorized to execute contracts and other documents on behalf of the Agency, acting on behalf of the City.

(4)

To disseminate slum clearance and community redevelopment information;

(5)

To undertake and carry out community redevelopment and related activities within a community redevelopment area, which redevelopment may include:

(i)

Acquisition of a slum area or a blighted area or portion thereof by purchase, lease, gift, or otherwise, or to obtain options for the acquisition of, any property, real or personal, improved or unimproved, for the construction, operation or maintenance of any project.

(ii)

Demolition and removal of buildings and other improvements.

(iii)

Residential development and related commercial, office, light industrial and other private development, and the installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, parking facilities and other public improvements necessary for carrying out in the community redevelopment area the community redevelopment objectives in accordance with the community redevelopment plan.

(iv)

Sale, lease, exchange, transfer or other disposition of any real or personal property in the community redevelopment area, including sales of property for less than fair market value for uses in accordance with the community redevelopment plan.

(v)

Carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other private and publicly owned improvements in accordance with the community redevelopment plan.

(vi)

Acquisition of any other real property in the community redevelopment area when necessary to eliminate unhealthful, unsanitary, or unsafe conditions; lessen density; eliminate obsolete 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 or private facilities.

(6)

To provide, or to arrange or contract for, the furnishing or repair by any person or agency, public or private, of projects, services, privileges, works, streets, roads, public utilities, or other facilities for or in connection with community redevelopment.

(7)

To pledge or assign to secure revenue bonds any money, rents, charges, fees, or other revenues and any proceeds derived from public and private development and sales of property, insurance, and condemnation awards or otherwise received under financing agreements;

(8)

To issue revenue bonds of the City to finance all or any part of the cost of redevelopment as described in this Chapter, payable from (i) revenues derived from sale, operation or leasing of any project or other payments received under financing agreements or other sources described in Section 500.108(a)(7) above, or (ii) increment revenues in the applicable community redevelopment trust fund, or (iii) any other legally available non-ad valorem revenues of the City, or (iv) any combination of the foregoing;

(9)

To construct, acquire, own, repair, maintain and otherwise operate, extend, improve, rehabilitate, renovate, furnish, and equip projects and to pay all or any part of the costs thereof from the proceeds of revenue bonds of the City or from any contribution, gift, donation, or other funds made available to the City for such purpose or from any increment revenues or other legally available non-ad valorem funds of the City;

(10)

To fix, charge, and collect rents, fees, and charges for the use of any project; and

(11)

To employ consulting engineers, architects, attorneys, real estate counselors, appraisers, and such other consultants and employees as may be required in the judgment of the City, and to fix and pay their compensation from funds available to the City therefor.

(12)

Within the community redevelopment area:

(i)

To enter into any building or property in any community redevelopment area in order to make inspections, surveys, appraisals, soundings, or test borings and to obtain an order for this purpose from a court of competent jurisdiction in the event entry is denied or resisted.

(ii)

To insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal property or operations of the City against any risks or hazards, including the power to pay premiums on any such insurance.

(13)

To invest any community redevelopment funds held in reserves or sinking funds or any such funds not required for immediate disbursement in property or securities in which the City may legally invest its funds.

(14)

To borrow money and to apply for and accept advances, loans, grants, contributions, and any other form of financial assistance from the Federal Government, the state, any other public body and from any other sources, public or private, for the purposes of community redevelopment, including projects for residential and related commercial, office, and light industrial development, and to give such security as may be required and to enter into and carry out contracts or agreements in connection therewith; and to include in any contract for financial assistance with the Federal Government for or with respect to community redevelopment and related activities such conditions imposed pursuant to federal laws as the City deems reasonable and appropriate.

(15)

To make or have made all surveys and plans necessary to the carrying out of the purposes of this Part; to contract with any person, public or private, in making and carrying out such plans; and to adopt or approve, modify, and amend such plans, which plans may include, but are not limited to:

(i)

Plans for carrying out a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements.

(ii)

Plans for the enforcement of state and local laws, codes, and regulations relating to the use of land and the use and occupancy of buildings and improvements and to the compulsory repair, rehabilitation, demolition, or removal of buildings and improvements.

(iii)

Appraisals, title searches, surveys, studies, and other plans and work necessary to prepare for the undertaking of community redevelopment and related activities.

(16)

To develop, test, and report methods and techniques, and carry out demonstrations and other activities, for the prevention and the elimination of slums and urban blight and developing and demonstrating new or improved means of providing housing for families and persons of low income.

(17)

To apply for, accept and utilize grants of funds from the Federal Government and to make grants of public funds and property for such purposes.

(18)

To prepare plans for and assist in the relocation of persons (including individuals, families, business concerns, nonprofit organizations, and others) displaced from a community redevelopment area and to make relocation payments to or with respect to such persons for moving expenses and losses of property for which reimbursement or compensation is not otherwise made, including the making of such payments financed by the Federal Government.

(19)

To appropriate such funds and make such expenditures as are necessary to carry out the purposes of this Part; to zone or rezone any part of the City or make exceptions from building regulations; and to enter into agreements with the City's housing authority, which agreements may extend over any period, notwithstanding any provision or rule of law to the contrary, respecting action to be taken by the City pursuant to any of the powers granted by this Part.

(20)

To close, vacate, plan, or replat streets, roads, sidewalks, ways, or other places and to plan or replat any part of the City.

(21)

To organize, coordinate, and direct the administration of the provisions of this Part, in order that the objective of remedying slum and blighted areas and preventing the causes thereof within the City may be most effectively promoted and achieved.

(22)

To exercise all or any part or combination of powers herein granted.

(23)

To develop and implement community policing innovations.

Notwithstanding the powers granted above in this subsection (a), the Agencies shall not have the power to:

(i)

Borrow money as authorized by F.S. § 163.370(2)(g), in a principal amount that exceeds, at the time of borrowing, an amount equal to the unallocated balance available in the applicable Trust Fund as determined by the CRA allocation and transfer process set forth in Chapter 106, Part 3, Ordinance Code, otherwise such borrowing shall require Council approval;

(ii)

Have the power to close or vacate streets, roads, sidewalks, ways or other places as set forth in F.S. § 163.370(2)(m), without Council approval;

(iii)

Have the power to zone or rezone or make exceptions from building regulations as set forth in F.S. § 163.370(2)(l), other than as authorized in Chapter 656, Part 3, Subpart H, Ordinance Code; and

(iv)

Exercise any power otherwise limited by this Chapter.

(b)

With the approval of the council, the City may:

(1)

Prior to approval of a community redevelopment plan or approval of any modifications of the plan, acquire and sell, at below fair market value, real property in a community redevelopment area, demolish and remove any structures on the property, and pay all costs related to the acquisition, demolition, removal or sale, including any administrative or relocation expenses.

(2)

Assume the responsibility to bear any loss that may arise as the result of the exercise of authority under this subsection in the event that the real property is not made part of the community redevelopment area.

(Ord. 2000-1078-E, § 1.03; Ord. No. 2003-1538-E, § 1; Ord. 2018-555-E , § 6)