The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 24 : Municipal and County Government

Chapter 085 : Urban Renewal

• § 3209. Powers

  Every municipality shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this chapter, including the following powers in addition to others herein granted:

  (1) to undertake and carry out urban renewal projects within its area of operation; and to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of its powers under this chapter; and to disseminate slum clearance and urban renewal information;

  (2) to provide or to arrange or contract for the furnishing or repair by any person or agency, public or private, of services, privileges, works, streets, roads, public utilities, or other facilities for or in connection with an urban renewal project; to install, construct, and reconstruct streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other public improvements; and to agree to any conditions that it may deem reasonable and appropriate attached to federal financial assistance and imposed pursuant to federal law relating to the determination of prevailing salaries or wages or compliance with labor standards, in the undertaking or carrying out of an urban renewal project, and to include in any contract let in connection with such a project, provisions to fulfill such of said conditions as it may deem reasonable and appropriate;

  (3) within its area of operation, to enter into any building or property in any urban renewal area in order to make inspections, surveys, appraisals, soundings, or test borings, and to obtain an order for this purpose from a court of competent jurisdiction in the event entry is denied or resisted; to acquire by purchase, lease, option, gift, grant, bequest, devise, eminent domain, or otherwise, any real property, or personal property for its administrative purposes, together with any improvements thereon; to hold, improve, clear, or prepare for redevelopment any such property; to mortgage, pledge, hypothecate, or otherwise encumber or dispose of any real property; to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal property or operations of the municipality against any risks or hazards, including the power to pay premiums on any such insurance; and to enter into any contracts necessary to effectuate the purposes of this chapter; provided, however, that no statutory provision with respect to the acquisition, clearance, or disposition of property by public bodies shall restrict a municipality or other public body exercising powers hereunder, in the exercise of such functions with respect to an urban renewal project, unless the Legislature shall specifically so state;

  (4) with the approval of the local governing body, (A) before approval of an urban renewal plan, or approval of any modifications of the plan, to acquire real property in an urban renewal area, demolish and remove any structures on the property, and pay all costs related to the acquisition, demolition, or removal, including any administrative or relocation expenses; and (B) to assume the responsibility to bear any loss that may arise as the result of the exercise of authority under this subsection if the real property is not made part of the urban renewal project;

  (5) to invest any urban renewal project funds held in reserve or sinking funds or any such funds not required for immediate disbursement, in property or securities in which savings banks may legally invest funds subject to their control; to redeem such bonds as have been issued pursuant to section 3214 of this title at the redemption price established therein or to purchase such bonds at less than redemption price, all such bonds so redeemed or purchased to be cancelled;

  (6) to borrow money and to apply for and accept advances, loans, grants, contributions, and any other form of financial assistance from the federal government, the State, county, or other public body, or from any sources, public or private, for the purposes of this chapter, and to give such security as may be required and to enter into and carry out contracts in connection therewith. A municipality may include in any contract for financial assistance with the federal government for an urban renewal project such conditions imposed pursuant to federal laws as the municipality may deem reasonable and appropriate and which are not inconsistent with the purposes of this chapter;

  (7) within its area of operation, to make or have made all surveys and plans necessary to the carrying out of the purposes of this chapter and to contract with any person, public or private, in making and carrying out such plans and to adopt or approve, modify, and amend such plans. Such plans may include: (A) a general plan for the locality as a whole, (B) urban renewal plans, (C) preliminary plans outlining urban renewal activities for neighborhoods to embrace two or more urban renewal areas, (D) plans for carrying out a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements, (E) plans for the enforcement of State and local laws, codes, and regulations relating to the use of land and the use and occupancy of buildings and improvements and to the compulsory repair, rehabilitation, demolition, or removal of buildings and improvements, (F) appraisals, title searches, surveys, studies, and other plans and work necessary to prepare for the undertaking of urban renewal projects and 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 and developing and demonstrating new or improved means of providing housing for families and persons of low income and to apply for, accept, and utilize grants of funds from the federal government for such purposes;

  (8) to prepare plans for and assist in the relocation of persons, including individuals, families, business concerns, nonprofit organizations, and others, displaced from an urban renewal area, and to make relocation payments to or with respect to such persons for moving expenses and losses of property, including the making of such payments financed by the federal government;

  (9) to appropriate such funds and make such expenditures as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter, and to levy taxes and assessments for such purposes; to zone or rezone any part of the municipality or make exceptions from building regulations; and to enter into agreements with a housing authority or an urban renewal agency vested with urban renewal project powers under section 3219 of this title, which agreements may extend over any period, notwithstanding any provision or rule of law to the contrary, respecting action to be taken by such municipality pursuant to any of the powers granted by this chapter;

  (10) to close, vacate, plan, or replan streets, roads, sidewalks, ways, or other places; and to plan or replan any part of the municipality;

  (11) within its area of operation, to organize, coordinate, and direct the administration of the provisions of this chapter as they apply to such municipality in order that the objective of remedying slum and blighted areas and preventing the causes thereof within such municipality may be most effectively promoted and achieved, and to establish such new office or offices of the municipality or to reorganize existing offices in order to carry out such purpose most effectively; and

  (12) to exercise all or any part or combination of powers herein granted. (Amended 1966, No. 69 (Sp. Sess.), § 6, eff. March 14, 1966.)