It is hereby found and declared that many residential neighborhood areas in the municipalities of this state are in danger of becoming blighted, with the consequent impairment of taxable values upon which in large part, municipal revenues depend; that such areas can prove detrimental or inimical to the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the citizens and to the economic welfare of the municipality; that in order to improve and maintain the general character of the municipality, it may be necessary to improve, or better, such areas; that the conditions found in such areas cannot be efficiently and economically remedied, with due regard to the general welfare of the public, without public participation in the planning, property acquisition and disposal, and the financing thereof; that the purposes of this act are to improve such areas by acquiring and developing properties within such areas for the protection of the health, safety, morals and general welfare of the municipality, to preserve existing values of other properties within or adjacent to such areas, and to preserve the taxable value of the property within such areas; and the necessity in the public interest for provisions herein enacted is hereby declared as a matter of legislative determination to be a public use and a public purpose.