KRS 99.550: Power and authority of agency with respect to urban renewal.

An agency shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to undertake and carry out

urban renewal plans and urban renewal projects, including the authority to acquire and

dispose of property, to issue bonds and other obligations, to borrow and accept gr ants

from the federal government or other source and to exercise the other powers which KRS

99.330 to 99.510 confer on an agency with respect to redevelopment projects. In

connection with the planning and undertaking of any urban renewal plan or urban renewal

project, the agency, the community, and all public and private officers, agencies, and

bodies shall have all the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities which they have with

respect to a development plan or redevelopment project, in the same manner as though all

of the provisions of KRS 99.330 to 99.510 applicable to a development plan or

redevelopment project were applicable to an urban renewal plan or urban renewal project;

Provided That for such purpose the word "redevelopment" as used in KRS 99.3 30 to

99.510 and KRS 99.520 to 99.590, except in this section and in the definition of

"redevelopment project" in KRS 99.340, shall mean "urban renewal," the words "slum

area" and the words "blighted area" as used in KRS 99.330 to 99.510 and KRS 99.520 to

99.590, except in this section and in the definitions in subsections (1) and (2) of KRS

99.340, shall mean "blighted, deteriorated, or deteriorating area," and the finding

prescribed in KRS 99.370 with respect to a slum area or blighted area shall not be

required; Provided further That any disaster area, referred to in KRS 99.530, shall

constitute a "blighted area"; and Provided further That this section shall not change the

corporate name of the agency or amend any section of KRS 99.330 to 99.510. In addit ion

to the surveys and plans which an agency is otherwise authorized to make, an agency is

hereby specifically authorized to make (1) plans for carrying out a program of voluntary

repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements, (2) plans for the e nforcement of

laws, codes, and regulations relating to the use of lands and the use and occupancy of

buildings and improvements, and to the compulsory repair, rehabilitation, demolition, or

removal of buildings and improvements, (3) plans for the relocatio n of persons, including

families, business concerns and others, displaced by an urban renewal project, (4)

preliminary plans outlining urban renewal activities for neighborhoods to embrace two

(2) or more urban renewal areas, and (5) preliminary surveys to determine if the

undertaking and carrying out of an urban renewal project are feasible. The agency is

authorized to make relocation payments to or with respect to persons, including families,

business concerns and others, displaced by an urban renewal project, for moving expenses

and losses of property for which reimbursement or compensation is not otherwise made,

including the making of such payments financed by the federal government. The agency

also is authorized to develop, test, and report methods and techniques, and carry out

demonstrations and other activities, for the prevention and the elimination of slums and

urban blight.