The following terms wherever used or referred to in this chapter have the following meanings unless a different meaning is clearly indicated by the context:

(1)  “Community” means any city or town in this state.

(2)  “Development plan” means a plan for the redevelopment or renewal of an area, including acquisition of land, buildings, and structures to be redeveloped or rehabilitated for educational or hospital use and demolition of buildings and structures, which:

(i)  Shall conform to the general plan of the community as a whole, and

(ii)  Shall conform to the requirements of the “Redevelopment Act of 1956,” chapters 31 — 33 of this title, with respect to the contents of the redevelopment plan.

(3)  “Educational institution of higher learning” means any public or private educational institution, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual which

(i)  Provides an educational program for which it awards a baccalaureate degree, or provides for not less than a two (2) year program which is acceptable for full credit towards a degree, or is a graduate or professional school, and

(ii)  Is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or association or, if not so accredited, is an institution whose credits are accepted, on transfer, by not less than three (3) accredited educational institutions for credit on the same basis as if transferred from an institution so accredited.

(4)  “Educational uses” means those uses related to the functions of teaching or research, or the housing, feeding, and care of students and faculty, or otherwise intended for the primary benefit of students and faculty.

(5)  “Hospital” means any public or private hospital licensed by the state, no part of the net earnings of which inures to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual.

(6)  “Hospital uses” means those uses related to the functions of a hospital in providing care and treatment of the ill or injured, including the housing, feeding, and care of resident interns, physicians, and nurses.

(7)  “Legislative body” means the city council or town council.

(8)  “Private redevelopment corporation” means

(i)  Any corporation which is wholly owned or controlled by one or more educational institutions of higher learning or hospitals, or which has been constituted as an instrumentality of the institutions or hospitals; or

(ii)  A corporation which operates on a nonprofit basis in behalf of a hospital or an educational institution.

(9)  “Redevelopment agency” means the public body or agency authorized by the “Redevelopment Act of 1956,” chapters 31 — 33 of this title, to undertake and carry out redevelopment projects.

(10)  “Redevelopment plan” means a redevelopment plan prepared and approved in accordance with the provisions of the “Redevelopment Act of 1956,” chapters 31 — 33 of this title.

(11)  “Redevelopment project” means any work or undertaking of a redevelopment agency pursuant to chapters 31 — 33 of this title.

(12)  “State public body” means the state, or any city or town or any other subdivision or public body of the state or of any city or town.