17-4760.   Definitions.The following terms wherever used or referred to in this act, shall havethe following meanings, unless a different meaning is clearly indicatedby the context:

      (a)   "Agency" or "urban renewal agency" shall mean a public agencycreated by K.S.A. 17-4757.

      (b)   "Municipality" shall mean any incorporated city in the state ofKansas.

      (c)   "Public body" shall mean the state or any municipality,township, village, board, commission, authority, district, or any othersubdivision or public body of the state.

      (d)   "Local governing body" shall mean the council, commission orother legislative body charged with governing the municipality.

      (e)   "Mayor" shall mean the mayor of a municipality or other officeror body having the duties customarily imposed upon the executive head ofa municipality.

      (f)   "Clerk" shall mean the clerk and other official of themunicipality who is the custodian of the official records of suchmunicipality.

      (g)   "Federal government" shall include the United States of Americaor any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the UnitedStates of America.

      (h)   "Slum area" shall mean an area in which there is a predominanceof buildings or improvements, whether residential or nonresidential,which by reason of dilapidation, deterioration, age or obsolescence,inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation, or openspaces, high density of population and overcrowding, or the existence ofconditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causes, orany combination of such factors is conducive to ill health, transmissionof disease, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, or crime, and isdetrimental to the public health, safety, morals or welfare.

      (i)   "Blighted area" shall mean an area (other than a slum area)which by reason of the presence of a substantial number of slum,deteriorated or deteriorating structures, predominance of defective orinadequate street layout, faulty lot layout in relation to size,adequacy, accessibility or usefulness, insanitary or unsafe conditions,deterioration of site or other improvements, diversity of ownership, taxor special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land,defective or unusual conditions of title, improper subdivision orobsolete platting, or the existence of conditions which endanger life orproperty by fire and other causes, or any combination of such factors,substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of a municipality,retards the provision of housing accommodations or constitutes aneconomic or social liability and is a menace to the public health,safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition and use: Provided,That if such blighted area consists of open land the conditionscontained in the proviso in K.S.A. 17-4747(d) shall apply.

      (j)   "Urban renewal project" may include undertakings or activitiesof a municipality in an urban renewal area for the elimination and forthe prevention of the development or spread of slums and blight, and mayinvolve slum clearance and redevelopment in an urban renewal area, orrehabilitation or conservation in an urban renewal area, or anycombination or part thereof in accordance with an urban renewal plan.

      (k)   "Slum clearance and redevelopment" may include (1) acquisitionof a slum area or a blighted area or portion thereof; (2) demolition andremoval of buildings and improvements; (3) installation, construction,or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and otherimprovements necessary for carrying out in the area the urban renewalprovisions of this act in accordance with the urban renewal plan; and(4) making the land available for development or redevelopment byprivate enterprise or public agencies (including sale, initial leasing,or retention by the municipality itself) at its fair value for uses inaccordance with the urban renewal plan.

      (l)   "Rehabilitation" or "conservation" may include the restorationand renewal of a slum or blighted area or portion thereof, in accordancewith an urban renewal plan, by (1) carrying out plans for a program ofvoluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or otherimprovements; (2) acquisition of real property and demolition or removalof buildings and improvements thereon where necessary to eliminateunhealthful, insanitary or unsafe conditions, lessen density, eliminateobsolete or other uses detrimental to the public welfare, or tootherwise remove or prevent the spread of blight or deterioration, or toprovide land for needed public facilities; (3) installation,construction or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks,playgrounds, and other improvements necessary for carrying out in thearea the urban renewal provisions of this act; and (4) the dispositionof any property acquired in such urban renewal area (including sale,initial leasing, or retention by the municipality itself) at its fairvalue for uses in accordance with such urban renewal plan.

      (m)   "Urban renewal area" means a slum area or a blighted area or acombination thereof which the local governing body designates asappropriate for an urban renewal project.

      (n)   "Urban renewal plan" means a plan, as it exists from time totime, for an urban renewal project, which plan (1) shall conform to thegeneral plan for the municipality as a whole; and (2) shall besufficiently complete to indicate such land acquisition, demolition andremoval of structures, redevelopment, improvements, and rehabilitationas may be proposed to be carried out in the urban renewal area, zoningand planning changes, if any, land uses, maximum densities, buildingrequirements, and the plan's relationship to definite local objectivesrespecting appropriate land uses, improved traffic, publictransportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities,and other public improvements.

      (o)   "Real property" shall include all lands, including improvementsand fixtures thereon, and property of any nature appurtenant thereto, orused in connection therewith, and every estate, interest, right and use,legal or equitable, therein, including terms for years and liens by wayof judgment, mortgage or otherwise.

      (p)   "Bonds" shall mean any bonds (including refunding bonds), notes,interim certificates, certificates of indebtedness, debentures or otherobligations.

      (q)   "Obligee" shall include any bondholder, agents or trustees forany bondholders, or lessor demising to the municipality property used inconnection with an urban renewal project, or any assignee or assigneesof such lessor's interest or any part thereof, and the federalgovernment when it is a party to any contract with the municipality.

      (r)   "Person" shall mean any individual, firm, partnership,corporation, company, association, joint stock association, or bodypolitic; and shall include any trustee, receiver, assignee, or otherperson acting in a similar representative capacity.

      (s)   "Area of operation" shall mean the area within the corporatelimits of the municipality and the area within five (5) miles of suchlimits, except that it shall not include any area which lies within theterritorial boundaries of another incorporated city unless a resolutionshall have been adopted by the governing body of such other citydeclaring a need therefor and except that it shall not include any arealying beyond the territorial boundaries of the county in which themunicipality is located.

      (t)   "Board" or "commission" shall mean a board, commission,department, division, office, body or other unit of the municipality.

      (u)   "Public officer" shall mean any officer who shall be delegatedby the local governing body to be in charge of any department or branchof the government of the municipality relating to health, fire, buildingregulations, or to other activities concerning dwellings in themunicipality.

      History:   L. 1955, ch. 86, § 19; L. 1957, ch. 157, § 1; June 29.