Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

A.(1)  The authority may sell, lease, or otherwise transfer real property or any interest therein acquired by it in community improvement areas for residential, recreational, commercial, industrial, or other uses or for public use, in accordance with the community improvement plan, subject to such covenants, conditions, and restrictions, including covenants running with the land as it may deem to be necessary or desirable to assist in preventing the development or spread of future slums or blighted areas or to otherwise carry out the purposes of this Chapter.

(2)  The purchasers or lessees and their successors and assigns shall be obligated to devote such real property only to the uses specified in the community improvement plan and shall be obligated to comply with such other requirements as the authority may determine to be in the public interest, including the obligation to begin within a reasonable time any improvements on such real property required by the community improvement plan.

(3)  Such real property or interest shall be sold, leased, or otherwise transferred at not less than its fair value for uses in accordance with the community improvement plan, unless such real property is sold, leased, or otherwise transferred in accordance with La. Rev. Stat. 33:4715.1.  In determining the fair value of real property for uses in accordance with the community improvement plan, the authority shall take into account and give consideration to the use provided in such plan, the restrictions upon and the covenants, conditions, and obligations assumed by the purchaser or lessee, and the objectives of such plan for the prevention of the recurrence of slum or blighted areas or facilities which are functionally obsolescent.

B.  The authority, in any instrument of conveyance to a private purchaser or lessee, may provide that such purchaser or lessee shall be without power to sell, lease, or otherwise transfer the real property without the prior written consent of the authority until he has completed the construction of any and all improvements which he has obligated himself to construct thereon.

C.  Real property acquired in accordance with the provisions of the community improvement plan shall be transferred as rapidly as feasible in the public interest consistent with the carrying out of the provisions of the project plan.  Such plan and any substantial modification of such plan shall be filed as a public record in the office of the clerk of the city council and the registrar of conveyances of Orleans Parish and any conveyance, encumbrances, or other contracts may incorporate the provisions thereof by reference which shall afford notice thereof to all parties.

D.  The authority may dispose of real property in a community improvement area to private persons only under such reasonable competitive bidding procedures as it shall prescribe subject to the provisions of this Subsection.

(1)  The authority shall provide public notice, by publication twice in ten days in a newspaper having a general circulation in the community not later than thirty days prior to the execution of any contract to sell, lease, or otherwise transfer real property and prior to the delivery of any instrument of conveyance with respect thereto under the provisions of this Section, invite proposals from, and make available all pertinent information to, private redevelopers or any persons interested in undertaking to redevelop or rehabilitate a community improvement area or any part thereof.

(2)  Such notice shall identify the area or portion thereof and shall state that proposals shall be made by those in interest within thirty days after publication of said notice, and that such further information as is available may be obtained at such office as shall be designated in said notice.

(3)  The authority shall consider all such redevelopment or rehabilitation proposals and the financial and legal ability of the persons making such proposals to carry them out and may negotiate with any persons for proposals for the purchase, lease, or other transfer of any real property acquired by the authority in the community improvement area.

(4)  The authority may accept such proposal as it deems to be in the public interest and in furtherance of the purposes of this Chapter; however, a notification of intention to accept such proposal shall be filed with the local governing body not less than thirty days prior to any such acceptance.  Such notice shall be a public record and shall include:

(a)  The name of the redeveloper or purchaser, together with the names of its officers and principal members of shareholders and investors and other interested parties.

(b)  The redeveloper’s estimate of the cost of any residential development and rehabilitation.

(c)  The redeveloper’s estimate of rentals and sales prices of any proposed housing involved in such redevelopment and rehabilitation.

(5)  Thereafter, the authority may execute such contract in accordance with the provisions of this Section and deliver acts of sale, leases, and other instruments and take all steps necessary to effectuate such contract.  The competitive bidding procedures provided for by this Subsection shall not apply to disposition of property to public bodies or institutions.

E.  The authority may temporarily operate, maintain, or lease real property acquired by it in a community improvement area for or in connection with a community improvement project pending disposition of the property as authorized in this Chapter without regard to the provisions of this Section, for such uses and purposes as may be deemed desirable even though not in connection with the community improvement plan.

F.  Any real property acquired pursuant to La. Rev. Stat. 33:4720.56(4) may be disposed of without regard to other provisions of this Section if the local governing body has consented to the disposal.  Real property acquired in accordance with a community improvement plan may be disposed of to a public body for public reuse or to an institution without regard to the provisions of this Section.

G.  Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Chapter, where the municipality is situated in an area designated as a redevelopment area under the Federal Area Redevelopment Act (Public Law 87-27), or any act supplementary thereto, land in a community improvement project area designated under the community improvement plan for industrial or commercial uses may be disposed of to any public body or for subsequent disposition as promptly as practical by the public body for redevelopment in accordance with the community improvement plan, and only the purchaser from or lessee of the public body and their assignees, shall be required to assume the obligation of beginning the building of improvements within a reasonable time.  Any disposition of land to a public body under this Subsection shall be at its fair value for uses in accordance with the community improvement plan.

Acts 2004, No. 349, §1; Acts 2005, No. 437, §1, eff. July 11, 2005.