138.02 DEFINITIONS.

   For the purpose of this chapter the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section unless a different meaning is clearly indicated in the context.

   (a)    "Agency" or "urban renewal agency" or "local public agency" or "City" means the City of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.

   (b)    "Project area" or "urban redevelopment area" or "urban renewal area" means a slum, blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating area or any combination or part thereof which Council designates as of a character and size appropriate for urban renewal activities and for which an Urban Redevelopment Plan or Urban Renewal Plan is proposed or prepared.

   (c)    "General neighborhood renewal area" means an urban renewal area together with any adjoining areas having specially related problems of such scope that urban renewal activities therein have to be initiated in more than one separate urban renewal project, over an estimated period of up to eight years.

   (d)    "Urban renewal" or "urban redevelopment" means the activities of the City, with or without Federal or State aid or assistance for developing, undertaking and carrying out of urban renewal or redevelopment programs and projects, including all planning and other related activities of the City in connection therewith, or any part of such activities.

   (e)    "Open space land" means land which has not been developed by the construction or installation of streets, utilities, buildings, except sporadic or incidental structures, or other site improvements. Whether or not such an area has been platted in whole or in part does not prevent its classification as open space land.

   (f)    "Redeveloper" means any person, or entity:

      (1)    Purchasing property from the City within a project area; or

      (2)    Owning property located within such area and entering into a conforming agreement with the City in consideration of being permitted by the City to retain title to such property.

   (g)    "Urban renewal plan" or "urban redevelopment plan" means a plan as it exists from time to time, for the urban renewal or redevelopment of a project area or part thereof.

   (h)    "General neighborhood renewal plan" means the plan and program as it exists from time to time, for the urban renewal or redevelopment of a general neighborhood renewal area. The general neighborhood renewal plan need not contain all of the required contents set forth in Section 138.04 with respect to an urban renewal plan or urban redevelopment plan. Approval of the general neighborhood renewal plan by Council does not create authority to carry out project execution activities.

   (i)    "Urban renewal project" or "urban redevelopment project" or "project" means undertakings and activities of the City, with or without Federal or State aid or assistance in a project area for the elimination and for the prevention of the development or spread of slum, blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating areas, and may involve clearance and redevelopment in a project area, or rehabilitation and conservation in a project area or any combination or part thereof, in accordance with the urban renewal or urban redevelopment plan for the project area to the full extent of and in accordance with the rights, powers and authority of the City, whether derived from the applicable provisions of the Federal or State constitution or statutes, or City ordinances. Such undertakings and activities in a project area may include:

      (1)    Acquisition of land which is:

         A.    A slum area or a deteriorated or deteriorating area; or

         B.    Predominantly open and which because of obsolete platting, diversity of ownership, deterioration of structures or of site improvements, or otherwise, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of the community; or

         C.    Air rights in an area consisting principally of land in highways, railway or subway tracks, bridge or tunnel entrances, or other similar facilities which have a blighting influence on the surrounding area and over which air rights sites are to be developed for the elimination of such blighting influences and for the provision of housing and related facilities and uses designed specifically for, and limited to, families and individuals of low or moderate income or, if the area is found by the local public agency to be unsuitable for use for low or moderate income housing, for use for industrial development;

      (2)   Demolition and removal of buildings and improvements;

      (3)    Installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds and other improvements necessary for carrying out the urban renewal or urban redevelopment plan;

      (4)   Disposition of property for uses in accordance with the urban renewal or urban redevelopment plan;

      (5)   Encouraging and assisting interested citizens in a private program of voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements in accordance with the urban renewal plan, with or without aid and assistance of Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance or special support for mortgage financing through the Federal National Mortgage Association or similar organizations;

      (6)   Acquisition of any real property where necessary to eliminate unhealthful, unsanitary or unsafe conditions, lessen such lot occupancy or population density as create such conditions, eliminate uses incompatible with the general character of a neighborhood and which are detrimental to the public welfare, or otherwise to remove or prevent the spread of blight or deterioration, to promote historic or architectural preservation or to provide land for needed public facilities; and disposition of property, so acquired in accordance with this subparagraph (6), for voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements in accordance with the urban renewal plan;

      (7)   Construction of foundations and platforms necessary for the appropriate provisions of air right sites in accordance with the urban renewal or urban redevelopment plan;

      (8)    Acquisition and repair or rehabilitation for resale of structures which, under the urban renewal plan, are to be repaired or rehabilitated for dwelling use or related facilities;

      (9)    Relocation within or outside the project area of structures which will be restored and maintained for architectural or historic purpose. An urban renewal project shall not include the construction or improvement by the City of any building other than Municipal buildings, except as provided in this subsection (i)(7) and (8) hereof and this subparagraph (9);

      (10)    Restoration of acquired properties of historic or architectural value;

   (j)    "General Plan" or "Master Plan" generally means a broad and general guide and pattern for the future growth and development of the City including maps, plats, charts and descriptive, interpretive and analytical narratives, as may be appro priate, and specifically means the City of Cuyahoga Falls Master Plan as adopted by the Planning Commission on April 15, 1964, pursuant to Ohio R. C. 713.02, Revised Code and any subsequent amendments thereto;

   (k)   "Slum clearance" or "clearance" or "urban redevelopment" may include those undertakings and activities identified in subsection (i)(1),(2),(3),(4) and (7) hereof;

   (l)    "Rehabilitation" or "conservation" or "reconditioning" may include those under takings and activities identified in subsection (i)(3),(4),(5),(6),(8),(9) and (10) hereof.

      (Ord. 104-1971. Passed 4-26-71. )

   (m)   The terms “Blighted Area,” “Blighted Parcel,” “Parcel,” and “Structure” shall have the same meaning as found in Section 119.02 of these Codified Ordinances.

      (Ord. 129-2006. Passed 12-11-06.)