7-15-4206. Definitions. The following terms, wherever used or referred to in part 43 or this part, have the following meanings unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context:

(1) "Agency" or "urban renewal agency" means a public agency created by 7-15-4232.

(2) "Blighted area" means an area that is determined to be detrimental to public health, safety, or welfare due to the presence of at least three of the following characteristics or conditions:

(a) an advanced state of disrepair or neglect of necessary repairs to the primary structural components of buildings or improvements in such a combination that a documented building condition analysis determines that major repair is required, or the defects are so serious and so extensive that the buildings must be removed;

(b) structures that have become ill-suited for their original use;

(c) deterioration of building structure components or infrastructure, such as roadways, alleys, curbs, gutters, and sidewalks;

(d) buildings or structures that endanger the life, limb, health, property, or safety of the general public or their occupants;

(e) inadequate utilities and infrastructure, such as storm sewers and storm drainage, sanitary sewers, water lines, power, roadways, alleys, curbs, gutters, sidewalks, and communication services, that are shown to be lacking, of insufficient capacity to serve the uses in the area, deteriorated, antiquated, obsolete, or in disrepair;

(f) real property in the area that has incurred or may incur future planned Montana department of environmental quality or United States environmental protection agency remediation costs;

(g) tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of a majority of the land and improvements; or

(h) excessive vacancies occurring in buildings that are unoccupied and underutilized and that represent an adverse influence on the area because of the frequency, extent, or duration of the vacancies.

(3) "Bonds" means any bonds, notes, or debentures, including refunding obligations, authorized to be issued pursuant to part 43 or this part.

(4) "Clerk" means the clerk or other official of the municipality who is the custodian of the official records of the municipality.

(5) "Elected" means chosen by vote or acclamation or appointed to a vacancy in an otherwise elected position.

(6) "Federal government" means the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America.

(7) "Local governing body" means the elected members of a council or other elected members of a legislative body charged with governing a municipality or consolidated city-county.

(8) "Mayor" means the chief executive of a city or town.

(9) "Municipality" means any incorporated city or town in the state.

(10) "Neighborhood development program" means the yearly activities or undertakings of a municipality in an urban renewal area or areas if the municipality elects to undertake activities on an annual increment basis.

(11) "Obligee" means any bondholder or agent or trustee for any bondholder or lessor conveying to the municipality property used in connection with an urban renewal project or any assignee or assignees of the lessor's interest or any part of the interest and the federal government when it is a party to any contract with the municipality.

(12) "Person" means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, or school district and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or other person acting in a similar representative capacity.

(13) "Public body" means the state or any municipality, township, board, commission, district, or other subdivision or public body of the state.

(14) "Public officer" means any officer who is in charge of any department or branch of the government of the municipality relating to health, fire, building regulations, or other activities concerning dwellings in the municipality.

(15) "Public use" means:

(a) a public use enumerated in 70-30-102; or

(b) a project financed by the method provided for in 7-15-4288.

(16) "Real property" means all lands, including improvements and fixtures on the land, all property of any nature appurtenant to the land or used in connection with the land, and every estate, interest, right, and use, legal or equitable, in the land, including terms for years and liens by way of judgment, mortgage, or otherwise.

(17) "Redevelopment" may include:

(a) acquisition of a blighted area or portion of the area;

(b) demolition and removal of buildings and improvements;

(c) installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other improvements necessary for carrying out in the area the urban renewal provisions of this part in accordance with the urban renewal plan; and

(d) making the land available for development or redevelopment by private enterprise or public agencies, including sale, initial leasing, or retention by the municipality itself, at its fair value for uses in accordance with the urban renewal plan. If the property is condemned pursuant to Title 70, chapter 30, the private enterprise or public agencies may not develop the condemned area in a way that is not for a public use.

(18) (a) "Rehabilitation" may include the restoration and renewal of a blighted area or portion of the area in accordance with an urban renewal plan by:

(i) carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements;

(ii) acquisition of real property and demolition or removal of buildings and improvements on the property when necessary to eliminate unhealthful, unsanitary, or unsafe conditions, to lessen density, to reduce traffic hazards, to eliminate obsolete or other uses detrimental to the public welfare, to otherwise remove or prevent the spread of blight or deterioration, or to provide land for needed public facilities;

(iii) installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other improvements necessary for carrying out in the area the urban renewal provisions of this part; and

(iv) subject to 7-15-4259(4), the 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.

(b) Rehabilitation may not include the development of the condemned area in a way that is not for a public use if the property is condemned pursuant to Title 70, chapter 30.

(19) "Urban renewal area" means a blighted area that the local governing body designates as appropriate for an urban renewal project or projects.

(20) "Urban renewal plan" means a plan for one or more urban renewal areas or for an urban renewal project. The plan:

(a) must conform to the growth policy if one has been adopted pursuant to Title 76, chapter 1; and

(b) must be sufficiently complete to indicate, on a yearly basis or otherwise:

(i) any land acquisition, demolition, and removal of structures; redevelopment; improvements; and rehabilitation that is proposed to be carried out in the urban renewal area;

(ii) zoning and planning changes, if any, including changes to the growth policy if one has been adopted pursuant to Title 76, chapter 1;

(iii) land uses, maximum densities, building requirements; and

(iv) the plan's relationship to definite local objectives respecting appropriate land uses, improved traffic, public transportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities, and other public improvements.

(21) (a) "Urban renewal project" may include undertakings or activities of a municipality in an urban renewal area for the elimination and for the prevention of the development or spread of blight and may involve redevelopment in an urban renewal area, rehabilitation or conservation in an urban renewal area, or any combination or part of redevelopment, rehabilitation, or conservation in accordance with an urban renewal plan.

(b) An urban renewal project may not include using property that was condemned pursuant to Title 70, chapter 30, for anything other than a public use.