Definitions

1. Law
2. US Virgin Islands Code
3. Public Planning and Development
4. Community Development and Renewal; Slum Clearance and Housing
5. Declaration of Findings and Policy and Definitions
6. Definitions

• (a) As used in this chapter, unless it is otherwise provided or the context requires a different construction, application, or meaning—

  • “Authority” for the purposes of this subchapter, and of subchapters VI, VII and VIII of this chapter, means either the Virgin Islands Housing Authority or the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority; for the purposes of subchapters II and III, “Authority” means the Virgin Islands Housing Authority; and for purposes of subchapter V, “Authority” means the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority: Provided, That in any event wherever in this chapter the context refers to urban renewal plans or projects, or any financial undertaking or other activity relating or incidental thereto, the term “Authority” shall be deemed to mean the “Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority”. “Federal Government” means the United States of America or any department, agency, or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise of the United States. “Government of the United States Virgin Islands” means the body politic established by the Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands. “Legislature” means the Legislature of the Virgin Islands. “Governor” means the Governor of the Virgin Islands. “Area of operation” means the total geographical area comprising the Virgin Islands of the United States. “Slum area” means an area in which there is a predominance of buildings or improvements, whether residential or nonresidential, which by reason of dilapidation, deterioration, age or obsolescence, inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation, or open space, high density of population and overcrowding, or the existence of any conditions, which endanger life or property by fire or other causes, or any combination of such factors is conducive to ill health, transmission of disease, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency, or crime, and is detrimental to the public health, safety, morals or welfare. “Blighted area” means an area (other than a slum area) which by reason of the presence of a substantial number of slum, deteriorated or deteriorating structures, predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness, insanitary or unsafe conditions, deterioration of site or other improvements, diversity of ownership, tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land, defective or unusual conditions of title, improper subdivision or obsolete platting, or the existence of conditions which endanger life or property by fire and other causes, or any combination of such factors, substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth of a community, retards the provision of housing accommodations or constitutes an economic or social liability and is a menace to the public health, safety, morals, or welfare in its present condition and use: Provided, That if such blighted area consists of open land the conditions contained in the proviso in section 92(f) of this title shall apply; And provided further, That any disaster area referred to in section 94 of this title shall constitute a “blighted area.” “Urban renewal area” means a slum area or a blighted area or a combination thereof which the Legislature designates as appropriate for an urban renewal project. “Locality” or “community” means any cohesive population area within the Virgin Islands, such as Charlotte Amalie at Saint Thomas, Christiansted or Frederiksted at Saint Croix, or Saint John, that would be commonly described as a city, town or village. “Housing project” means any work, or undertaking, or activity to provide decent, safe, and sanitary urban or rural dwellings, apartments and other living accommodations for families of low income. Such work, undertaking, or activity may include buildings, land, equipment, facilities, other real or personal property for necessary, convenient, or desirable appurtenances, streets, sewers and other sanitary facilities and services, water supply, utilities, parks, site preparation, landscaping and administrative, community, health, recreational, welfare and similar facilities and services. The term also extends to the planning of buildings and improvements, the acquisition of property, the demolition of existing structures, the clearance of slum areas, the construction, reconstruction, alteration, or repair of the improvements, and all other work in connection therewith, as well as to all other real or personal property and tangible or intangible assets held or used in connection with the housing project. “Urban renewal project” means undertakings and activities in an urban renewal area for the elimination and for the prevention of the development or spread of slums and blight, and may involve slum clearance and redevelopment in an urban renewal area, or rehabilitation or conservation in an urban renewal area, or any combination or part thereof in accordance with an urban renewal plan. Such undertakings and activities may include—

    • (1) acquisition of a slum area or a blighted area or portion thereof;

    • (2) demolition and removal of buildings and improvements;

    • (3) installation, construction, or reconstruction of streets, utilities, parks, playgrounds, and other improvements, necessary for carrying out in the urban renewal area the urban renewal objectives of this chapter in accordance with the urban renewal plan;

    • (4) disposition of any property acquired in the urban renewal area (including sale, initial leasing or retention by the Authority itself) at its fair value for uses in accordance with the urban renewal plan;

    • (5) carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other improvements in accordance with the urban renewal plan; and

    • (6) acquisition of any other real property in the urban renewal area where necessary to eliminate unhealthful, insanitary or unsafe conditions, lessen density, eliminate obsolete or other uses detrimental to the public welfare, or otherwise to remove or prevent the spread of blight or deterioration, or to provide land for needed public facilities.

    “Project” means a housing project or an urban renewal project and extends to all properties, assets, cash, or other funds, used, received or held in connection with the development or operation or disposition of a project or any portion of a project. “Urban renewal plan” means a plan, as it exists from time to time, for an urban renewal project, which plan (1) shall conform to the general plan for the community or locality as a whole, except as provided in section 94 of this title; and (2) shall be sufficiently complete to indicate such land acquisition, demolition and removal of structures, redevelopment, improvements, and rehabilitation as may be proposed to be carried out in the urban renewal area, zoning and planning changes, if any, land uses, maximum densities, building requirements, and the plan's relationship to definite local objectives respecting appropriate land uses, improved traffic, public transportation, public utilities, recreational and community facilities, and other public improvements. “Real property” or “land”, unless restricted meaning is clearly indicated, means all lands, including improvements and fixtures thereon, and appurtenances thereto, or used in connection therewith, and every estate, interest, right, and use, legal or equitable, therein, including terms for years, and liens by way of mortgage, pledge, attachment, judgment, or otherwise. “Families of low income” or “low-income families” means individuals or families who are in the lowest income group in a community, who cannot afford to pay enough to cause private enterprise in their community to build an adequate supply of decent, safe and sanitary housing for their use. “Bonds” means all bonds (including refunding bonds), notes, debentures, and any other types of forms of instruments of obligation. “Obligee of the Authority” or “obligee” includes any bondholder, agents or trustees for any bondholders, or lessor demising to the Authority property used in connection with a project, or any assignee or successor of any of these, and the Federal Government when it is a party to any contract with the Authority. “Person” means any individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, association, establishment, institution, or organization, private or public, and includes persons acting in a representative or fiduciary capacity. “Persons engaged in national defense activities” means individuals in the armed forces of the United States; employees of the Department of Defense; and workers engaged or to be engaged in activities connected with national defense. The term also includes the families of the individuals, employees, and workers who reside with them. “Major disaster” means any flood, drought, fire, hurricane, earthquake, storm, or other catastrophe, natural or man-made (including destruction due to enemy action in time of war) which the Governor has determined to be of sufficient severity and magnitude to warrant the use of available resources of the Federal Government and the Government of the United States Virgin Islands and the locality to alleviate the damage, hardship, or suffering caused thereby. “Public agency” or “agency” means any department, bureaus [sic], instrumentality, authority, or official body, corporate or otherwise or any public official, of the United States, or of the Virgin Islands, or of any State, Commonwealth, Territory, or Possession of the United States.

• (b) To the extent to which any definition in this section relates to, or is derived from the provisions of the United States Housing Act of 1937, as amended, or the Housing Act of 1949, as amended, or the Housing Act of 1954, as amended, it shall be construed as intended to conform to those Acts, or to any future amendment of those Acts, and as intended to include the broadest scope authorized by those Acts.

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