Rhode Island General Laws
Chapter 45-32 - Redevelopment Projects
Section 45-32-5. - Corporate powers of agencies.

§ 45-32-5. Corporate powers of agencies.
(a) Each redevelopment agency constitutes a public body, corporate and politic, exercising public and essential governmental functions, and has all the powers necessary and convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of chapters 31 — 33 of this title, including the powers enumerated in this section in addition to others granted by these chapters:
(1) To sue and be sued; to borrow money; to compromise and settle claims; to have a seal; and to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers.
(2) To make, and, from time to time, amend and repeal bylaws, rules, and regulations, consistent with chapters 31 — 33 of this title, to carry into effect the powers and purposes of these chapters.
(3) To select and appoint officers, agents, counsel, and employees, permanent and temporary, as it may require, and determine their qualifications, duties, and compensation.
(4) Within the redevelopment area or for purposes of redevelopment: to purchase, lease, obtain an option upon, acquire by gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise, any real or personal property, or any estate or interest in it, together with any improvements on it; to acquire by the exercise of the power of eminent domain any real property or any estate or interest in it, although temporarily not required to achieve the purposes of chapters 31 — 33 of this title; to clear, demolish, or remove any and all buildings, structures, or other improvements from any real property so acquired; to rehabilitate or otherwise improve any or all substandard buildings, structures, or other improvements; to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal property or operations of the agency against risk or hazard; and to rent, maintain, rehabilitate, improve, manage, operate, repair, and clear the property.
(5) To develop as a building site or sites any real property owned or acquired by it.
(6) To cause streets and highways to be laid out and graded, and pavements or other road surfacing, sidewalks, and curbs, public utilities of every kind, parks, playgrounds, and other recreational areas, off-street parking areas and other public improvements to be constructed and installed.
(7) To prepare or have prepared all plans necessary for the redevelopment of blighted and substandard areas; with the consent and approval of the community planning commission, to carry on and perform, for and on behalf of the commission, all or any part of the planning activities and functions within the community; to undertake and perform, for the community, industrial, commercial, and family relocation services; to obtain appraisals and title searches; to make investigations, studies, and surveys of physical, economic, and social conditions and trends pertaining to a community; to develop, test, and report methods and techniques and carry out research and other activities for the prevention and the elimination of blighted and substandard conditions and to apply for, accept, and utilize grants of funds from the federal government and other sources for those purposes; and to enter upon any building or property in any redevelopment area in order to make investigations, studies, and surveys, and, in the event entry is denied or resisted, an agency may petition the superior court in and for the county in which the land lies for an order for this purpose. Upon the filing of a petition, due notice of it shall be served on the person denying or resisting entry, and after a hearing on the petition, the court shall enter an order granting or denying the petition.
(8) To undertake technical assistance to property owners and other private persons to encourage, implement, and facilitate voluntary improvement of real property.
(9) To undertake and carry out code enforcement projects pursuant to the provisions of appropriate federal legislation.
(10) To invest any funds held in reserves or sinking funds or any funds not required for immediate disbursement, in property or securities in which savings banks may legally invest funds subject to their control; and to purchase its bonds at a price not more than the principal amount and accrued interest, all bonds so purchased to be cancelled.
(11) To lend money, and to sell, lease, exchange, subdivide, transfer, assign, pledge, encumber (by mortgage, deed of trust, or otherwise), or otherwise dispose of any real or personal property or any estate or interest in it acquired under the provisions of chapters 31 — 33 of this title, to the United States, the state government, any state public body, or any private corporation, firm, or individual at its fair value for uses in accordance with the redevelopment plan, irrespective of the cost of acquiring and preparing the property for redevelopment. In determining the fair value of the property for uses in accordance with the redevelopment plan, the agency shall take into account, and give consideration to, the uses and purposes required by the plan, the restrictions upon, and the obligations assumed by the purchaser or lessee of the property, and the objectives of the redevelopment plan for the prevention of the recurrence of blighted and substandard conditions. Any lease or sale of the property may be made without public bidding, provided that no sale or lease is made until at least ten (10) days after the legislative body of the community has received from the agency a report concerning the proposed sale or lease.
(12) To obligate the purchaser or lessee of any real or personal property or any estate or interest in it to:
(i) Use the property only for the purpose and in the manner stated in the redevelopment plan;
(ii) Begin and complete the construction or rehabilitation of any structure or improvement within a period of time that the agency fixes as reasonable; and
(iii) Comply with other conditions that, in the opinion of the agency are necessary to prevent the recurrence of blighted and substandard conditions and otherwise to carry out the purposes of chapters 31 — 33 of this title. The agency, by contractual provisions, may make any of the purchasers’ or lessees’ obligations, covenants, or conditions running with the land, and may provide that, upon breach thereof, the fee reverts to the agency.
(13) To exercise all or any part or combination of the powers granted in this chapter.
(14) To construct new buildings for residential, recreational, commercial, industrial, institutional, public, or other uses contemplated by the redevelopment plan.
(15) To grant or loan any redevelopment project revenues, or other revenues, including the proceeds of any issue of bonds or notes issued pursuant to this chapter to an individual or any nonprofit organization or governmental or quasi-governmental entity or private enterprise, in order to finance the cost of any portion of a redevelopment project authorized pursuant to chapters 31 through 33 of this title, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the cost of acquiring land for, and constructing or rehabilitating, furnishing and equipping residential, commercial, industrial, institutional, public, or recreational facilities, within a redevelopment area, or to loan bond or note proceeds in order to refinance any such loans.
(16) To retain a master developer for all or any portion of a project. Any master developer position shall be subject to advertising and solicitation of applicants shall be approved at a duly posted public meeting of the agency.
(b) [Deleted by P.L. 2019, ch. 118, § 3 and P.L. 2019, ch. 143, § 3].
History of Section.P.L. 1956, ch. 3654, § 40; G.L. 1956, § 45-32-5; P.L. 1969, ch. 16, § 1; P.L. 1971, ch. 78, § 1; P.L. 1999, ch. 497, § 1; P.L. 2018, ch. 103, § 3; P.L. 2019, ch. 118, § 3; P.L. 2019, ch. 143, § 3.

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