House Study Bill 124 - Introduced
HOUSE FILE _____
BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON
WAYS AND MEANS BILL BY
CHAIRPERSON KAUFMANN)
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to the creation of land redevelopment trusts.
2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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1 DIVISION I
2 LAND REDEVELOPMENT TRUSTS
3 Section 1. NEW SECTION. 358A.1 Short title.
4 This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Iowa
5 Land Redevelopment Trust Act”.
6 Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 358A.2 Legislative intent.
7 The general assembly finds and declares all of the
8 following:
9 1. Iowa’s communities are important to the social and
10 economic vitality of this state. Whether urban, suburban,
11 or rural, many communities are struggling with dilapidated,
12 abandoned, blighted, and tax-delinquent properties.
13 2. Citizens of Iowa are affected adversely by dilapidated,
14 abandoned, blighted, and tax-delinquent properties,
15 including properties that have been abandoned due to mortgage
16 foreclosure.
17 3. Dilapidated, abandoned, blighted, and tax-delinquent
18 properties impose significant costs on neighborhoods and
19 communities by lowering property values, increasing fire
20 and police protection costs, decreasing tax revenues, and
21 undermining community cohesion.
22 4. There is an overwhelming public need to confront the
23 problems caused by dilapidated, abandoned, blighted, and
24 tax-delinquent properties; to return properties that are in
25 non-revenue-generating, non-tax-producing status to productive
26 status in order to revitalize urban, suburban, and rural
27 areas, provide affordable housing, and attract new industry;
28 and to create jobs for the citizens of this state through the
29 establishment of new tools that enable communities to turn
30 abandoned spaces into vibrant places.
31 5. Land redevelopment trusts are one of the tools that
32 communities can use to facilitate the return of dilapidated,
33 abandoned, blighted, and tax-delinquent properties to
34 productive use.
35 Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. 358A.3 Definitions.
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1 As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise
2 requires:
3 1. “Abandoned” means a parcel is vacant or a building on
4 a parcel has remained vacant for a period of at least six
5 consecutive months and is in need of rehabilitation.
6 2. “Blighted” means a vacant parcel or a parcel containing
7 a building is unsafe with objectively determinable signs of
8 deterioration sufficient to constitute a threat to human
9 health, safety, and welfare.
10 3. “Board” means the board of directors of a land
11 redevelopment trust.
12 4. “Dilapidated” means a parcel containing a building is in
13 a state of deterioration as a result of age or neglect.
14 5. “Geographical boundaries of the land redevelopment trust”
15 means the jurisdiction of the municipality that created the
16 land redevelopment trust or in the case of any combination
17 of municipalities creating a single land redevelopment
18 trust or joining an existing land redevelopment trust, the
19 combined jurisdictions of the municipalities. In the case
20 of a land redevelopment trust created by a county, such land
21 redevelopment trust’s jurisdiction includes only the area of
22 the county not included within an incorporated city.
23 6. “Land redevelopment trust” means an entity created under
24 section 358A.4.
25 7. “Local employee” means a person employed by a
26 municipality of this state and does not include an independent
27 contractor.
28 8. “Local official” means an officeholder of a municipality
29 of this state.
30 9. “Municipality” means a city, county, or township.
31 10. “Rehabilitation” means the action of restoring to its
32 former condition something that has deteriorated or has been
33 damaged.
34 Sec. 4. NEW SECTION. 358A.4 Creation.
35 1. A land redevelopment trust organized under this chapter
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1 shall be a body corporate and politic, with the name under
2 which it was organized, and may sue and be sued in its own
3 name, contract and be contracted with, acquire and hold real
4 and personal property necessary for corporate purposes, adopt a
5 corporate seal and alter the same at pleasure, and exercise all
6 the powers conferred in this chapter.
7 2. a. Any municipality may create a land redevelopment
8 trust. Creation shall be by ordinance in the case of a city
9 or by resolution in the case of a county or township. The
10 ordinance or resolution shall make reference to the purposes
11 listed under section 358A.2.
12 b. Any municipality may create a land redevelopment
13 trust in combination with one or more other municipalities.
14 Municipalities seeking to create such a land redevelopment
15 trust shall comply with the procedures set forth in chapter
16 28E. A land redevelopment trust shall be considered a public
17 agency for the purposes of chapters 28E and 28H.
18 c. (1) Any city or township passing an ordinance or a
19 resolution or entering into a chapter 28E agreement creating
20 a land redevelopment trust pursuant to this section shall
21 promptly deliver copies of the ordinance, resolution, or
22 agreement to the auditor, treasurer, and the county attorney of
23 each county in which the municipality is located.
24 (2) Any board of supervisors adopting a resolution
25 or entering into a chapter 28E agreement creating a land
26 redevelopment trust pursuant to this section shall deliver a
27 copy of the resolution or agreement to the county auditor,
28 county treasurer, and county attorney.
29 3. a. The enabling ordinance or resolution, or chapter
30 28E agreement, shall set forth any restrictions or required
31 procedures that exceed those set forth in this chapter.
32 b. A chapter 28E agreement relating to a land redevelopment
33 trust shall include procedures for the distribution of assets
34 between participating municipalities upon the dissolution of
35 the land redevelopment trust.
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1 c. Unless otherwise limited in the ordinance, resolution,
2 or chapter 28E agreement, the powers and procedures of a newly
3 created land redevelopment trust shall be the powers and
4 procedures specified in this chapter.
5 4. A council of governments established in section 28H.1
6 shall not form a land redevelopment trust. However, pursuant
7 to a chapter 28E agreement, a council of governments may
8 provide community development services, planning services, and
9 technical assistance to a land redevelopment trust.
10 Sec. 5. NEW SECTION. 358A.5 Board of directors.
11 1. a. A land redevelopment trust shall have a board of
12 directors in which all powers of the land redevelopment trust
13 shall be vested.
14 b. Unless restricted by the enabling ordinance, resolution,
15 or agreement as specified in section 358A.4, the provisions of
16 this section apply to the governance of a land redevelopment
17 trust.
18 2. The membership of the board shall be established in the
19 bylaws of the land redevelopment trust.
20 3. a. A local official may serve as a board member, and
21 service as a board member shall neither terminate nor impair
22 the local official’s office.
23 b. A local employee shall be eligible to serve as a board
24 member.
25 4. Board members shall serve without compensation.
26 However, the board may reimburse a member for expenses actually
27 incurred in the performance of duties on behalf of the land
28 redevelopment trust as provided in bylaws adopted pursuant to
29 subsection 5.
30 5. a. Upon creation by the enabling ordinance, resolution,
31 or agreement as specified in section 358A.4, the board shall
32 adopt bylaws addressing matters necessary to govern the conduct
33 of the land redevelopment trust and shall meet as the bylaws
34 prescribe.
35 b. When in actual conflict, the ordinances, resolutions, or
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1 agreements described in section 358A.4 shall control over any
2 bylaws adopted by the board.
3 6. Except as set forth in the enabling ordinance,
4 resolution, or agreement, or as set forth by a land
5 redevelopment trust in its bylaws, an action of the board must
6 be approved by the affirmative vote of a majority of the board
7 present and voting.
8 7. Members of the board shall not be liable personally on
9 the obligations of the land redevelopment trust, and rights of
10 creditors of a land redevelopment trust shall be solely against
11 the land redevelopment trust.
12 Sec. 6. NEW SECTION. 358A.6 Staff.
13 1. A land redevelopment trust may employ or contract for
14 the employment of any persons the land redevelopment trust
15 may require to fulfill the objectives of its bylaws and this
16 chapter.
17 2. An employee of the land redevelopment trust is not and
18 shall not be deemed to be an employee of the municipality for
19 whose benefit the land redevelopment trust is organized solely
20 because the employee is employed by the land redevelopment
21 trust.
22 3. A land redevelopment trust is an employer as defined in
23 section 97B.1A, subsection 9, paragraph “a”, and an employee
24 of the land redevelopment trust is an employee as defined in
25 section 97B.1A, subsection 8.
26 Sec. 7. NEW SECTION. 358A.7 Powers.
27 1. In furtherance of the purposes set forth in section
28 358A.2, a land redevelopment trust shall have the power to
29 perform all actions necessary or convenient to carry out the
30 purposes set forth in this chapter, including but not limited
31 to all of the following powers:
32 a. To borrow money for any of the purposes of the land
33 redevelopment trust by means of loans, lines of credit, or
34 any other financial instruments or securities other than
35 through the issuance of bonds, debentures, or notes. A
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1 land redevelopment trust may secure its indebtedness by
2 mortgage, pledge, deed of trust, or other lien on its property,
3 franchises, rights, and privileges of every kind and nature
4 or any part thereof or interest therein. The moneys borrowed
5 by the land redevelopment trust are payable as to principal,
6 interest, and any other amounts owed the lender solely from
7 the proceeds from the net revenues of the land redevelopment
8 trust and are not a debt of or charge against any of the
9 municipalities that formed the land redevelopment trust within
10 the meaning of any constitutional or statutory debt limitation
11 provision. For purposes of this paragraph:
12 (1) “Gross revenues” means the income and receipts of the
13 land redevelopment trust from any source whatsoever, including
14 but not limited to contributions from private parties or member
15 municipalities, sale or lease of rehabilitated properties,
16 and collection of a portion of the property taxes during the
17 five-year period after sale or lease of the rehabilitated
18 property.
19 (2) “Net revenues” means the gross revenues of the land
20 redevelopment trust less the land redevelopment trust’s
21 operating expenses.
22 b. To petition for abatement pursuant to chapter 657A. A
23 land redevelopment trust is an “interested person” for purposes
24 of that chapter.
25 c. To contract with the federal government, the state,
26 a subdivision of the state, and any other party, whether
27 nonprofit or for-profit.
28 2. The powers enumerated in this chapter shall not be
29 construed to limit the general powers of a land redevelopment
30 trust or a municipality. The powers granted under this chapter
31 are in addition to the powers granted by any other section of
32 the Code, but as to a land redevelopment trust, shall be used
33 only for the purposes set forth in section 358A.2.
34 Sec. 8. NEW SECTION. 358A.8 Eminent domain.
35 A land redevelopment trust shall not possess or exercise the
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1 power of eminent domain, including under chapters 6A and 6B.
2 Sec. 9. NEW SECTION. 358A.9 Acquisition of property.
3 1. a. Except as provided in section 358A.8, a land
4 redevelopment trust may acquire, hold, own, accept, and
5 otherwise obtain real property or interests in real property
6 by gift, devise, transfer, exchange, foreclosure, purchase, or
7 otherwise, on terms and conditions and in a manner the board
8 considers is in the best interest of the land redevelopment
9 trust and consistent with the purposes set forth in section
10 358A.2 and the land redevelopment trust’s bylaws.
11 b. A land redevelopment trust may acquire tax sale
12 certificates at a tax sale conducted under chapter 446 and
13 may subsequently acquire title through tax lien foreclosure
14 procedures. A land redevelopment trust shall not be considered
15 a city or county for purposes of bidding on and acquiring tax
16 sale certificates under chapter 446, redeeming property under
17 chapter 447, or obtaining a tax sale deed under chapter 448.
18 c. The acquisition of property by the land redevelopment
19 trust shall not be governed or controlled by any regulations or
20 laws relating to procurement or acquisition of property of any
21 municipality that created the land redevelopment trust, unless
22 specifically provided in the ordinance, resolution, or chapter
23 28E agreement establishing the land redevelopment trust.
24 d. Except as otherwise provided in paragraph “e”, a land
25 redevelopment trust shall not own or hold real property located
26 outside the geographical boundaries of the land redevelopment
27 trust.
28 e. A land redevelopment trust may be granted, pursuant to
29 an intergovernmental contract with a political subdivision of
30 this state, the authority to manage and maintain real property
31 located within the geographical boundaries of the political
32 subdivision, but outside the geographical boundaries of the
33 land redevelopment trust. If a land redevelopment trust
34 receives a gift or devise of real property located outside of
35 the geographical boundaries of the land redevelopment trust,
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1 the land redevelopment trust shall dispose of such property by
2 sale or exchange as soon as reasonably practicable.
3 2. A land redevelopment trust shall maintain all of its
4 real property in accordance with the laws and ordinances of the
5 jurisdiction in which the real property is located.
6 3. A land redevelopment trust shall maintain and make
7 available for public review and inspection an inventory of all
8 real property held by the land redevelopment trust.
9 Sec. 10. NEW SECTION. 358A.10 Disposition of property.
10 1. A land redevelopment trust may convey, exchange, sell,
11 transfer, lease, grant, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of
12 interests in real property of the land redevelopment trust at
13 such times, to such persons, upon such terms and conditions,
14 and subject to such restrictions and covenants as the land
15 redevelopment trust deems necessary or appropriate to assure
16 the effective use of the land redevelopment trust in accordance
17 with the purposes of section 358A.2 and consistent with the
18 land redevelopment trust’s bylaws.
19 2. A land redevelopment trust shall determine the amount
20 and form of consideration necessary to convey, exchange, sell,
21 transfer, lease, grant, mortgage, or otherwise dispose of
22 interests in real property. Consideration may take the form of
23 monetary payments and secured financial obligations, covenants
24 and conditions related to the present and future use of the
25 property, contractual commitments by the transferee, and other
26 forms of consideration as determined by the board to be in the
27 best interest of the land redevelopment trust and consistent
28 with its bylaws.
29 3. A municipality may in the ordinance or resolution
30 creating a land redevelopment trust, or in the chapter 28E
31 agreement in the case of any combination of municipalities
32 creating a single land redevelopment trust, require that
33 a particular form of disposition of real property or a
34