KRS 99.020: Declaration of necessity for and purpose of KRS 99.010 to 99.310.

It is hereby declared that in cities, as defined in KRS 99.010, that substandard and

insanitary areas exist which have resulted from inadequate planning, excessive land

coverage, lack of proper light, air, and open space, defective design and arrangement o f

buildings, lack of proper sanitary facilities, and the existence of buildings which, by

reason of age, obsolescence, inadequate or outmoded design, or physical deterioration,

have become economic or social liabilities, or both; that such conditions are p revalent in

areas where substandard, insanitary, outworn, or outmoded industrial, commercial, or

residential buildings prevail, and are conducive to ill health, transmission of disease,

infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, crime, and poverty; that such conditions impair the

economic value of large areas, infecting them with economic blight and that such areas

are characterized by depreciated values, impaired investments, and reduced capacity to

pay taxes; that such conditions are chiefly in areas which a re so subdivided into small

parcels in divided ownerships and frequently with defective titles, that their assembly for

purposes of clearance, replanning, rehabilitation, and reconstruction is difficult and

costly; that the existence of such conditions and the failure to clear, replan, rehabilitate, or

reconstruct these areas result in a loss of population by the areas and further deterioration,

accompanied by added costs to the communities for creation of new public facilities and

services elsewhere; that it is difficult and uneconomic for individual owners

independently to undertake to remedy such conditions; that it is desirable to encourage

owners of property or holders of claims thereon in such areas to join together, with or

without other persons, or o ther persons to join together, in corporate groups, for the

purpose of the clearance, replanning, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of such areas by

joint action; that it is necessary to create, with proper safeguards, inducements, and

opportunities for t he employment of private investment and equity capital in the

clearance, replanning, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of such areas; that such

conditions require the employment of such capital on an investment rather than a

speculative basis, allowing, h owever, the widest latitude in the amortization of any

indebtedness created thereby; that such conditions further require the acquisition at fair

prices of adequate areas, the gradual clearance of such areas through demolition of

existing obsolete, inadequ ate, unsafe, and insanitary buildings and the redevelopment of

such areas under proper supervision with appropriate planning, land use, and construction

policies; that the clearance, replanning, rehabilitation, and reconstruction of such areas on

a large s cale basis are necessary for the public welfare; that the clearance, replanning,

reconstruction, and rehabilitation of such areas are public uses and purposes for which

private property may be acquired; that such substandard and insanitary areas constitute a

menace to the health, safety, morals, welfare, and reasonable comfort of the citizens of

such cities and the state; that such conditions require the creation of the agencies,

instrumentalities, and corporations hereinafter described, for the purpose of attaining the

ends herein recited; that the protection and promotion of the health, safety, morals,

welfare, and reasonable comfort of the citizens of such cities and the state are matters of

public concern; and the necessity in the public interest for the provisions hereinafter

enacted is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination.