New York Laws
Article 15 - Urban Renewal
510 - State Capital Grants.

(a) in the case of municipalities which have contracted with the
federal government for a capital grant (or for a loan and grant)
subsequent to the thirty-first day of December, nineteen hundred sixty,
make or contract to make, within appropriations therefor, a state
capital grant to such municipality to assist in carrying out one or more
programs of urban renewal; provided, however, that such state capital
grant may be made with respect to that part of any program which has
been added, or with respect to which the federal capital grant, or loan
and grant, has been increased, pursuant to a contract or contract
amendment entered into with the federal government, after such date;
(b) in the case of municipalities which have not made application to
or entered into a contract with the federal government for advances,
loans or grant, with respect to a specific urban renewal project, make
or contract to make a state capital grant, within appropriations
therefor, to such municipality to assist in meeting the cost of surveys
and plans for such project and the administrative and other related
expenditures to be incurred in undertaking and completing such project.
All contracts for such state capital grants shall be subject to
approval by the state comptroller, and by the attorney general as to
form. The commissioner may make advances or progress payments on account
of any state capital grant contracted to be made pursuant to this
section and such advances or payments shall not constitute periodic
subsidies.
2. Any such state capital grant shall be in such amount, within
appropriations therefor, as the commissioner, in his discretion, may
deem necessary to assist the municipality in discharging its obligations
in connection with the program for which the grant shall be made;
provided, however, that no such grant shall exceed one-half of the net
cost of such program to the municipality, exclusive of any federal aid
or assistance, as such net costs shall be certified by the municipality
and approved by the commissioner. If the municipality has not applied to
or entered into a contract with the federal government for advances,
loans or grants for a specific project, such grant shall not in any
event exceed five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000).
3. No municipality shall receive any such state capital grant until
(a) the urban renewal plan has been approved by the governing body, (b)
the program set forth in such plan has been certified as eligible for
federal assistance by the appropriate federal agency, or the governing
body has found that such federal financial assistance is not necessary
for the undertaking and successful completion of the program set forth
in such plan, and (c) the governing body and the comptroller, or in a
municipality having no comptroller, the chief financial officer, have
attached their separate approvals to the grant contract. The
commissioner may make temporary advances to such municipality in
anticipation of any such grant.
4. Notwithstanding anything contained in this section or in section
five hundred thirteen of this article to the contrary, the commissioner
may in the name of the state, within appropriations heretofore or
hereafter made for state capital grants to assist in carrying out one or
more local urban renewal programs, make or contract to make advances of
funds to municipalities, in anticipation of any such state capital
grant, to assist such municipalities in preparing preliminary economic
and physical plans for relocation housing, regulated by law or contract
as to rents, for persons and families to be displaced by the urban

renewal program whose housing needs cannot be met by the unaided
operations of private enterprise. Upon completion such plans shall be
filed with the commissioner.
No such contract or advance shall be made (a) before an urban renewal
area, to whose residents such relocation housing relates, has been
designated pursuant to section five hundred four of this article; (b)
unless the governing body has certified that the preparation of
preliminary plans for such relocation housing is necessary to the making
of a finding, pursuant to section five hundred five of this article, as
to the existence of a feasible method of relocation; and (c) in excess
of the lowest of the following amounts:
(i) the actual cost of preparation of such preliminary plans;
(ii) one-half of one per cent of the estimated construction cost of
the proposed relocation housing;
(iii) twenty-five thousand dollars;
and every such advance shall be repaid out of any state capital grant
which may become payable to the municipality for the undertaking of the
urban renewal project involved.
5. (a) Notwithstanding anything contained in this article to the
contrary, the commissioner may in the name of the state, within
appropriations heretofore or hereafter made for state capital grants to
assist in carrying out one or more local urban renewal programs, make or
contract to make state capital grants to municipalities to assist in
financing the cost of the preparation and completion of one or more
community renewal programs.
A community renewal program may include, without being limited to (1)
the identification of slum areas or blighted, deteriorated, or
deteriorating areas in the community, (2) the measurement of the nature
and degree of blight and blighting factors within such areas, (3)
determination of the financial, relocation, and other resources needed
and available to renew such areas, (4) the identification of potential
project areas and, where feasible, types of urban renewal action
contemplated within such areas, and (5) scheduling or programming of
urban renewal activities.
(b) Any such state capital grant shall be in such amount, within
appropriations therefor, as the commissioner, in his discretion, may
deem necessary to assist the municipality in discharging its obligations
in connection with the community renewal program for which the state
capital grant shall be made; provided, however, that no such state
capital grant shall exceed one-half of the cost to the municipality of
undertaking and completing such program, exclusive of any federal or
state aid or assistance therefor, as such cost shall be certified by the
municipality and approved by the commissioner.
(c) No municipality shall receive any such state capital grant until
(1) the community renewal program has been approved by the governing
body, (2) such program has been certified as eligible for federal
assistance by the appropriate federal agency, and (3) the governing body
and the comptroller, or in a municipality having no comptroller, the
chief financial officer, have attached their separate approvals to the
state grant contract.
(d) All contracts for such state capital grants shall be subject to
approval by the state comptroller, and by the attorney general as to
form. The commissioner may make advances or progress payments on account
of any such state capital grant contract to be made pursuant to this
section.
6. (a) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this
section or elsewhere in this chapter, or in any general, special or
local law, except as hereinafter provided, the commissioner may, in the

name of the state, include in determining the net cost of an urban
renewal project for the purpose of computing the amount of state
financial assistance to a municipality, those expenditures made by a
private voluntary hospital and/or by a private college or private
university, within, adjacent to, or in the immediate vicinity of such
project which are recognized as non-cash grant-in-aid credits under the
provisions of section one hundred twelve of title one of the federal
housing act of nineteen hundred forty-nine, as amended and supplemented;
provided, however, that such computation shall not apply to any urban
renewal project for which a contract has been executed with the federal
government for a capital grant (or for a loan and grant) prior to the
first day of July, nineteen hundred sixty-six.
(b) Not more than fifteen per centum of the amount appropriated by the
state or otherwise available to the commissioner in any year for urban
renewal assistance to municipalities and agencies pursuant to this
section and section five hundred fifty-seven of this chapter shall be
available for the purposes of paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
(c) In no instance shall the amount of state assistance to a
municipality under this subdivision exceed the net project cost,
excluding the amount of the non-cash grant-in-aid credits for
expenditures made by a private voluntary hospital and/or by a private
college or private university allowed in accordance with the provisions
of section one hundred twelve of title I of the federal housing act of
nineteen hundred forty-nine as amended and supplemented, less any
federal capital grant, or loan and grant, for such project; nor shall
the aggregate amount of state assistance for any such urban renewal
project, including section one hundred twelve grant-in-aid credits as
provided by this subdivision, exceed one-half of the total local
grant-in-aid requirements necessary to complete such project.
(d) No such section one hundred twelve non-cash grant-in-aid credits
shall be included in determining the net cost of an urban renewal
project for the purpose of computing the amount of state financial
assistance to a municipality unless such expenditures were made in
conformity with a plan or undertaking for the clearance, replanning and
reconstruction or rehabilitation of a substandard or insanitary area or
areas.
(e) Such plan or undertaking, for the clearance, replanning and
reconstruction or rehabilitation of a substandard insanitary area
adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of an urban renewal project
shall conform to the comprehensive community plan for the development of
the community as a whole. Every such plan or undertaking shall be
submitted to the commission, if any, for approval. The commission after
considering the plan or undertaking may: issue a report of unqualified
approval; or issue a report of conditional or qualified approval; or
issue a report disapproving same. The plan or undertaking shall be
submitted, together with the report of the commission, to the local
legislative body for its approval. If the commission shall have issued a
report of unqualified approval, the plan or undertaking may be approved
in accordance with the report of the commission by a majority vote of
the local legislative body. If the commission shall have issued a
report disapproving same, or shall have issued a report of conditional
or unqualified approval, or shall have failed to make its report within
four weeks of the submission of the plan or undertaking to the
commission, the local legislative body may, nevertheless, approve the
plan or undertaking but only by a three-fourths vote.