1974 BLIGHT DEFINITIONS
The following excerpt outlines blighting conditions as they were defined in Community Redevelopment Law in 1974. These definitions were used by the Carson City Council in its determination of the existence of blighting conditions for candidate Redevelopment Plans as outlined in Chapter 2.0 of this document.
STATE POLICY - BLIGHTED AREAS § 33030
Article 3
DECLARATION OF STATE POLICY - BLIGHTED AREAS
Sec.
33030. Existence of blighted areas.
33031. Blighted area; unfit or unsafe buildings.
33032. Blighted area; faulty planning.
33032.1 Blighted area; seashore.
33033. Blighted area; depreciated values; inadequate tax receipts.
33034. Blighted area; unproductive condition of land; loss of population.
33035. Public injury from blighted areas.
33036. Private injury from blighted areas.
33037. Declaration of state policy.
33038. Blighted area; temporary wartime housing projects.
33039. Causes of slum and blighted residential areas; declaration of policy.
33040 Repealed.
33041 Repealed.
33042 Repealed.
33043 Repealed.
33044 Repealed.
33045 Repealed.
33046 Repealed.
33047 Repealed.
33048 Repealed.
33049. Repealed.
Article 3 was added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3679, § 3.
§ 33030. Existence of blighted areas
It is found and declared that there exist in many communities blighted areas which constitute either social or economic liabilities, or both, requiring redevelopment in the interest of the health, safety, and general welfare of the people of such communities and of the State. These blighted areas are characterized by one or more of the conditions set forth in Section 33031 to 33034, inclusive.
(Added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3679. § 3.)
§ 33031 Blighted area; unfit or unsafe buildings
A blighted area is characterized by the existence of buildings and structures, used or intended to be used for living, commercial, industrial, or other purposed, or any combination of such uses, which are unfit or unsafe to occupy for such purposes and are conducive to ill health, transmission of disease, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, and crime because of any one or a combination of the following factors:
a) Defective design and character of physical construction.
b) Faulty interior arrangement and exterior spacing.
c) High density of population and overcrowding.
d) Inadequate provision for ventilation, light, sanitation, open spaces, and recreation facilities.
e) Age, obsolescence, deterioration, dilapidation, mixed character, or shifting of uses.
(Added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3679. § 3.)
§ 33032. Blighted area; faulty planning
A blighted area is characterized by:
a) An economic dislocation, deterioration, or disuse, resulting from faulty planning.
b) The subdividing and sale of lots of irregular form and shape and inadequate size for proper usefulness and development.
c) The laying out of lots in disregard of the contours and other physical characteristics of the ground and surrounding conditions.
d) The existence of inadequate streets, open spaces, and utilities.
e) The existence of lots or other areas which are subject to being submerged by water.
(Added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3679. § 3.)
§ 33032.1 Blighted area; seashore
A seashore, and uninhabited areas adjacent thereto, within a community, are blighted areas when characterized by:
a) The imminent danger of a substantial decline in the coastal environment, including its recreational and aesthetic values.
b) The need for public beach areas and public access routes through such areas.
c) A danger to the quantity and quality of marine life through uncontrolled private development.
(Added by Stats. 1971, c. 1434, p. 2839. § 1.)
§ 33033. Blighted area; depreciated values; inadequate tax receipts
A blighted area is characterized by a prevalence of depreciated values, impaired investments, and social and economic maladjustment to such an extent that the capacity to pay taxes is reduced and tax receipts are inadequate for the cost of public services rendered.
(Added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3679. § 3.)
§ 33034. Blighted area; unproductive condition of land; loss of population
A blighted area is characterized by:
a) In some parts of the blighted area, a growing or total lack or proper utilization of areas, resulting in a stagnant and unproductive condition of land potentially useful and valuable for contributing to the public health, safety, and welfare.
b) In other parts of the blighted area, a loss of population and reduction of proper utilization of the area, resulting in its further deterioration and added costs to the taxpayer for the creation of new public facilities and services elsewhere.
(Added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3679. § 3.)
§ 33035. Public injury from blighted area
It is further found and declared that:
a) The existence of blighted areas characterized by any or all of such conditions constitutes a serious and growing menace which is condemned as injurious and inimical to the public health, safety, and welfare of the people of the communities in which they exist and of the people of the State.
b) Such blighted areas present difficulties and handicaps which are beyond remedy and control solely by regulatory processes in the exercise of police power.
c) They contribute substantially and increasingly to the problems of, and necessitate excessive and disproportionate expenditures for, crime prevention, correction, prosecution, and punishment, the treatment of juvenile delinquency, the preservation of the public health and safety, and the maintaining of adequate police, fire, and accident protection and other public services and facilities.
d) This menace is becoming increasingly direct and substantial in its significance and effect.
e) The benefits which will result from the remedying of such conditions and the redevelopment of blighted areas will accrue to all the inhabitants and property owners of the communities in which they exist.
(Added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3680. § 3.)
§ 33036. Private injury from blighted area
It is further found and declared that:
a) Such conditions of blight tend to further obsolescence, deterioration, and disuse because of the lack of incentive to the individual landowner and his inability to improve, modernize, or rehabilitate his property while the condition of the neighboring properties remains unchanged.
b) As a consequence, the process of deterioration of a blighted area frequently cannot be halted or corrected except by redeveloping the entire area, or substantial portions of it.
c) Such conditions of blight are chiefly found in areas subdivided into small parcels, held in divided and widely scattered ownerships, frequently under defective titles, and in many such instances, the private assembly of the land in blighted areas for redevelopment is so difficult and costly that is uneconomic and as a practical matter impossible for owners to undertake because of lack of the legal power and excessive costs.
d) The remedying of such conditions may require the public acquisition at fair prices of adequate areas, the clearance of the areas through demolition of existing obsolete, inadequate, unsafe, and insanitary buildings, and the redevelopment of the areas suffering from such conditions under proper supervision, with appropriate planning, and continuing land use and construction policies.
(Added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3680. § 3.)
§ 33037. Declaration of state policy
For these reasons it is declared to be the policy of the State:
a) To protect and promote the sound development and redevelopment of blighted areas and the general welfare of the inhabitants of the communities in which they exist by remedying such injurious conditions through the employment of all appropriate means.
b) That whenever the redevelopment of blighted areas cannot be accomplished by private enterprise alone, without public participation and assistance in the acquisition of land, in planning and in the financing of land assembly, in the work of clearance, and in the making of improvements necessary therefor, it is in the public interest to employ the power of eminent domain, to advance or expend public funds for these purposes, and to provide a means by which blighted areas may be redeveloped or rehabilitated.
c) That the redevelopment of blighted areas and the provisions for appropriate continuing land use and construction policies in them constitute public uses and purposes for which public money may be advanced or expended and private property acquired, and are governmental functions of state concern in the interest of health, safety, and welfare of the people of the State and of the communities in which the areas exist.
d) That the necessity in the public interest for the provisions of this part is declared to be a matter of legislative determination.
(Added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3680. § 3.)
§ 33038. Blighted area; temporary wartime housing projects
It is found and declared that blighted areas may include housing areas constructed as temporary government-owned wartime housing projects, and that such areas may be characterized by one or more of the conditions enumerated in Sections 33031 to 33034, inclusive.
(Added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3681. § 3.)
§ 33039. Causes of slum and blighted residential area; declaration of policy
The Legislature of the State of California recognized that among the principal causes of slum and blighted residential areas are the following factors:
a) Inadequate enforcement of health, building, and safety laws.
b) The fact that the limited financial resources of many human beings who inhabit them make only this type of housing available to such persons.
c) Racial discrimination against persons of certain groups in seeking housing.
d) The neglect of the absentee landlords.
It is, therefore, declared to be the public policy of this State that, in order to cope with the problems of the rehabilitation of slum or blighted areas, these factors shall be taken into consideration in any rehabilitation or redevelopment program. It is further declared to be the public policy of this State that such rehabilitation or redevelopment programs shall not be undertaken and operated in such a manner as to exchange new slums for old slums or as to congest individuals from one slum to another slum.
(Added by Stats. 1963, c. 1812, p. 3680. § 3.)