An authority shall constitute a public body corporate and politic, exercising public and essential governmental functions, and having all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this law, including the following powers in addition to others herein granted:

(1) To sue and to be sued; to have a seal and to alter the same at pleasure; to have perpetual succession; to make and execute contracts and other instruments necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers of the authority; and to make and from time to time amend and repeal bylaws, rules and regulations, not inconsistent with this law, to carry out the provisions of this law;

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(2) To prepare or cause to be prepared and recommend redevelopment plans and urban renewal plans to the governing body of the community or communities within its area of operation and to undertake and carry out land clearance projects and urban renewal projects within its area of operation;

(3) 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 a land clearance project or urban renewal project; and notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this law or any other provision of law, 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 a land clearance project or urban renewal project, and to include in any contract let in connection with such a project provisions to fulfill such of the conditions as it may deem reasonable and appropriate;

(4) Within its area of operation, to purchase, lease, obtain options upon, acquire by gift, grant, bequest, devise, eminent domain or otherwise, any real or personal property or any interest therein, including fee simple absolute title, together with any improvements thereon, necessary or incidental to a land clearance project or urban renewal project; to hold, improve, clear or prepare for redevelopment or urban renewal any such property; to develop, construct, reconstruct, rehabilitate, repair or improve residences, houses, buildings, structures and other facilities; to sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, subdivide, retain for its own use, mortgage, pledge, hypothecate or otherwise encumber or dispose of any real or personal property or any interest therein; to enter into contracts with redevelopers of property and with other public agencies containing covenants, restrictions and conditions regarding the use of such property for residential, commercial, industrial, recreational purposes or for public purposes in accordance with the redevelopment or urban renewal plan and such other covenants, restrictions and conditions as the authority may deem necessary to prevent a recurrence of blighted or insanitary areas or to effectuate the purposes of this law; to make any of the covenants, restrictions, or conditions of the foregoing contracts covenants running with the land, and to provide appropriate remedies for any breach of any such covenants, or conditions, including the right in the authority to terminate such contracts and any interest in the property created pursuant thereto; to borrow money and issue bonds and provide security for loans or bonds; to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or personal property or operations of the authority 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 law; provided, however, that no statutory provision with respect to the acquisition, clearance or disposition of property by other public bodies shall restrict an authority or other public bodies exercising powers hereunder, in such functions, unless the legislature shall specifically so state;

(5) To prepare a workable program;

(6) To make plans for carrying out a program of voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements, 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; the authority may develop, test and report methods and techniques, and carry out demonstrations and other activities, for the prevention and the elimination of insanitary, blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating areas;

(7) 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; to redeem its bonds at the redemption price, all bonds so redeemed or purchased to be cancelled;

(8) 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, municipality or other public body or from any sources public or private, for the purposes of this law, to give such security as may be required and to enter into and carry out contracts in connection therewith; an authority, notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, may include in any contract for financial assistance with the federal government for a land clearance or urban renewal project such conditions imposed pursuant to federal law as the authority may deem reasonable and appropriate and which are not inconsistent with the purposes of this law;

(9) Acting through one or more commissioners or other persons designated by the authority, to conduct examinations and investigations and to hear testimony and take proof under oath at public or private hearings on any matter material for its information; to administer oaths, issue subpoenas requiring the attendance of witnesses or the production of books and papers and to issue commissions for the examination of witnesses who are outside of the state or unable to attend before the authority, or excused from attendance; to make available to appropriate agencies, including those charged with the duty of abating or requiring the correction of nuisances or like conditions or of demolishing unsafe or insanitary structures or eliminating substandard or insanitary conditions or conditions of blight within its area of operation, its findings and recommendations with regard to any building or property where conditions exist which are dangerous to the public health, safety, morals or welfare;

(10) Within its area of operation, to make or have made all surveys, studies and plans, but not including the preparation of a general plan for the community, necessary to the carrying out of the purposes of this law and in connection therewith to enter into or upon any land, building, or improvement thereon for such purposes and to make soundings, test borings, surveys, appraisals and other preliminary studies and investigations necessary to carry out its powers but such entry shall constitute no cause of action for trespass in favor of the owner of such land, building or improvement except for injuries resulting from wantonness or malice; and to contract or cooperate with any and all persons or agencies, public or private, in the making and carrying out of the surveys, appraisals, studies and plans;

(11) To prepare plans and provide reasonable assistance for the relocation of families displaced from a land clearance project area or an urban renewal project area, to the extent essential for acquiring possession of and^* clearing or renewing the area or parts thereof;

(12) To make such expenditures as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this law; and to make expenditures from funds obtained from the federal government without regard to any other laws pertaining to the making and approval of appropriations and expenditures;

(13) To delegate to a municipality or other public body any of the powers or functions of the authority with respect to the planning or undertaking of a land clearance project or urban renewal project in the area in which the municipality or public body is authorized to act, and the municipality or public body is hereby authorized to carry out or perform such powers or functions for the authority;

(14) To exercise all powers or parts or combinations of powers necessary, convenient or appropriate to undertake and carry out land clearance, redevelopment and urban renewal plans and projects and all the powers herein granted;

(15) To loan the proceeds of the bonds or temporary notes hereinafter authorized to provide for the purchase, construction, extension and improvement of a project by a private or public developer pursuant to a development contract approved by the authority.