CHAPTER 378

An Act to amend and reenact § 86-55 of the Code of Virginia; and to
amend the Code of Virginia by adding sections numbered 36-48.1,
$6-49.1, 86-50.1, 86-51.1 and 86-52.1, the amended and added sec-
tions relating generally to housing authorities and more particularly
to findings, conservation projects, conservation plans, undertakings
constituting conservation projects; powers with respect to conserva-
tion projects, acquisition of property, assistance in and to conserva-
tion projects by certain public bodies, bonds or other obligations and
other matters in relation to the foregoing. 'S 871]

Approved March 31, 1964

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 36-55 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted, and
that the Code of Virginia be amended by adding sections numbered 36-48.1,
36-49.1, 36-50.1, 36-51.1 and 36-52.1, as follows:

§ 36-48.1. The findings and declarations made in § 36-48 are hereby
reaffirmed and it is hereby further found and declared that: certatn
blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating areas, or portions thereof, are,
through the means hereinafter provided, susceptible of conservation
through appropriate public action and the elimination or prevention of the
spread or increase of blight or deterioration in such areas is necessary for
the public welfare and is a public purpose for which public money may be
spent and private property acquired by purchase or by the power of
eminent domain, and is a governmental function of grave concern to the
Commonwealth.

§ 36-49.1. Whenever it appears to the governing body of any city
having a population of more than three hundred thousand, or any city
having a population of not more than ninety-five thousand nor less than
eighty-six thousand or any city having a population of not more than two
hundred thousand nor less than one hundred fourteen thousand, or any
city having a population of not more than seventeen thousand six hundred
mor less than sixteen thousand, or any city having a population of not
more than eleven thousand five hundred nor less than eleven thousand,
or any city having a population of not more than fifteen thousand nor less
than thirteen thousand that a portion of such city is deteriorating and may
be eligible for conservation as provided by this section, and such governing
body adopts a resolution so declaring, an authority may, in addition to
other powers granted by this or any other law, investigate such portion of
the locality and select slum, blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating areas
and prepare a plan for the conservation thereof to be known as a “Con-
servation Plan.” Upon approval of such plan by the governing body of
such city, the authority is specifically empowered to do the following in
order to carry out the work or undertaking as called for in such plan
(hereinafter called a “conservation project’):

(1) To acquire property within such areas which is blighted, desig-
nated for public use in the conservation plan, or the use or condition of
which is inconsistent with the purposes of the conservation plan or the
provisions of the zoning ordinance or code of the city;

(2) To rehabilitate or clear property so acquired;

(3) To provide for the installation, construction or reconstruction of
streets, utilities, parks, parking facilities, playgrounds, public buildings and
iad te amprovements essential to the conservation or rehabilitation
planned;
(4) To make land or improvements so acquired available to private
enterprise or public agencies (by sale, lease or retention of ownership by
the authority itself); and —

(5) To encourage and assist property owners or occupants within
the conservation area to improve their respective holdings, by suggesting
improved standards for design, construction, maintenance and use of such
properties and offering encouragement or assistance in other ways directed
toward prevention and elimination of blight.

(6) The governing body shall conduct a public hearing prior to ap-
proval of a conservation plan. ;

§ 36-50.1. In connection with the execution of a conservation plan, an
authority shall have all of the powers and responsibilities vested in or tm-
posed upon it in connection with redevelopment projects under this chapter,
with the exception that the power of eminent domain shall not be exercised
in connection with a conservation project except to acquire (1) properties
designated for public use in the conservation plan, or (2) properties which
are determined by the authority to be in violation of the standards for
design, construction, maintenance and use of property set out in the con-
servation plan for the project in which such property is situate, and which
have not been made to comply with such standards within one year after
a written request to rehabilitate to project standards is given to the owner
by the authority, or (8) properties as to which voluntary conveyance can-
not be effected in the course of the execution of the conservation plan be-
cause of the inability of the owners to convey marketable title.

§ 36-51.1. An authority shall not initiate any conservation project
under this law until the governing body (or planning agency or other public
agency designated by it or empowered by law so to act) of each city having
the power granted by § 36-49.1 in which any of the area to be covered by
such project is situated, has approved a “conservation plan” which provides
an outline for the conservation, development or redevelopment of the area,
affording maximum opportunity for conservation, rehabilitation or rede-
velopment by private enterprise consistent with the ends to be achieved,
and 1s sufficiently complete to indicate (1) its relationship to definite local
objectives as to appropriate land uses and improved traffic, public trans-
portation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities and other
public improvements; (2) any conditions and limitations on acquisition of
property; (8) proposed land uses for the properties to be acquired; (4) any
conditions and limitations, including time limitation, under which prop-
erty shall be made available for rehabilitation or redevelopment by public
or private enterprise (by sale, lease or retention by the authority itself) ;
(5) standards of design, construction, maintenance, and use of property
and other measures to be taken or recommended toward elimination and
prevention of blight; (6) the method for the temporary relocation of any
persons living in such area who will be displaced in accordance with the
plan, as well as the method of providing (unless already available) decent,
safe and sanitary dwellings in such city substantially equal in number
to the number of substandard dwellings to be cleared from the area, at rents
within the financial reach of the income groups displaced from such sub-
standard dwellings; (7) any limitation on the length of time within which
project activities can be undertaken; (8) a procedure for administrative
review of the determination at staff level and prior to a final determination
by the authority under § 36-50.1 (2) that an individual property is in viola-
tion of project standards and, therefore, subject to condemnation; and
(9) the procedure by which such conservation plan may be amended.

§ 36-52.1. Any city having the power granted by § 86-49.1 is hereby
authorized to approve conservation plans through its governing body, or
agency designated for that purpose, and cooperate with or assist such
authority in the same manner as authorized for redevelopment plans.
§ 36-55. Bonds or other obligations issued by an authority in connec-
tion with * projects authorized under this chapter shall be security for
public deposits and legal investments to the same extent and for the same
persons, institutions, associations, corporations and other bodies and
officers as bonds or other obligations issued by an authority in connection
with the development of slum clearance or housing projects.