Florida Senate - 2013                                     SB 856
       
       
       
       By Senator Bullard
       
       
       
       
       39-00838A-13                                           2013856__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to community redevelopment; amending
    3         s. 163.340, F.S.; revising the definition of the term
    4         “blighted area,” as applicable to the Community
    5         Redevelopment Act of 1969, to include land previously
    6         used as a military facility and adjacent to a county
    7         owned zoological park; providing an effective date.
    8  
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Subsection (8) of section 163.340, Florida
   12  Statutes, is amended to read:
   13         163.340 Definitions.—The following terms, wherever used or
   14  referred to in this part, have the following meanings:
   15         (8) “Blighted area” means an area in which there are a
   16  substantial number of deteriorated, or deteriorating structures,
   17  in which conditions, as indicated by government-maintained
   18  statistics or other studies, are leading to economic distress or
   19  endanger life or property, and in which two or more of the
   20  following factors are present:
   21         (a) Predominance of defective or inadequate street layout,
   22  parking facilities, roadways, bridges, or public transportation
   23  facilities;
   24         (b) Aggregate assessed values of real property in the area
   25  for ad valorem tax purposes have failed to show any appreciable
   26  increase over the 5 years prior to the finding of such
   27  conditions;
   28         (c) Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy,
   29  accessibility, or usefulness;
   30         (d) Unsanitary or unsafe conditions;
   31         (e) Deterioration of site or other improvements;
   32         (f) Inadequate and outdated building density patterns;
   33         (g) Falling lease rates per square foot of office,
   34  commercial, or industrial space compared to the remainder of the
   35  county or municipality;
   36         (h) Tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the
   37  fair value of the land;
   38         (i) Residential and commercial vacancy rates higher in the
   39  area than in the remainder of the county or municipality;
   40         (j) Incidence of crime in the area higher than in the
   41  remainder of the county or municipality;
   42         (k) Fire and emergency medical service calls to the area
   43  proportionately higher than in the remainder of the county or
   44  municipality;
   45         (l) A greater number of violations of the Florida Building
   46  Code in the area than the number of violations recorded in the
   47  remainder of the county or municipality;
   48         (m) Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual
   49  conditions of title which prevent the free alienability of land
   50  within the deteriorated or hazardous area; or
   51         (n) Governmentally owned property with adverse
   52  environmental conditions caused by a public or private entity.
   53  
   54  However, the term “blighted area” also means any area in which
   55  at least one of the factors identified in paragraphs (a) through
   56  (n) is are present and all taxing authorities subject to s.
   57  163.387(2)(a) agree, either by interlocal agreement, by or
   58  agreements with the agency, or by resolution, that the area is
   59  blighted, or the area was previously used as a military facility
   60  and is adjacent to a county-owned zoological park. Such
   61  agreement or resolution shall only determine only that the area
   62  is blighted. For purposes of qualifying for the tax credits
   63  authorized in chapter 220, “blighted area” means an area as
   64  defined in this subsection.
   65         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2013.