Does the urban renewal statute let an Arkansas urban renewal agency demolish a building, and does the agency need to own it first?

Plain-English summary

Senator Trent Garner asked three questions about the powers of urban renewal agencies and housing authorities under Arkansas's redevelopment and urban renewal statutes:

1. Does "clearance" in § 14-169-601 include "razing"? Yes. § 14-169-601(3) declares clearance, replanning, and rebuilding of blighted areas to be public uses. The agency's authority to "clear any areas acquired" (§ 14-169-604(4)) plainly includes demolishing buildings on those areas. The Housing Authorities Act, which urban renewal agencies operate under (§ 14-169-605(a)), defines a "housing project" to include work to "[d]emolish, clear, or remove buildings from any slum area" (§ 14-169-203(11)(A)(i)). The dictionary definition of "raze" is to "level to the ground; demolish."

2. Does "necessary or convenient" in § 14-169-705 include demolition or razing? Yes. § 14-169-705(a) gives urban renewal agencies "all the powers necessary or convenient to undertake and carry out urban renewal plans and urban renewal projects, including the authority to acquire and dispose of property." Sister provisions (§§ 14-169-703(a)(2)(b), 14-169-704(b)(2), 14-169-801(a)) explicitly contemplate demolition of acquired property. So "necessary or convenient" reaches razing.

3. Must an urban renewal agency acquire property before razing it? Yes. The AG contrasted agencies with cities, which may order removal or razing of certain unsafe or dilapidated buildings under Ark. Code Ann. § 14-56-203. Urban renewal agencies and housing authorities have not been granted that power on their own authority. For the redevelopment and urban renewal projects addressed in the opinion, an urban renewal agency must acquire the property before razing it.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2019. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Can an urban renewal agency use powers granted to a housing authority?
A: Yes. The opinion quotes § 14-169-605(a), which gives agencies "all the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities that a housing authority has" under the Housing Authorities Act. Its footnote also cites City of Fort Smith v. Housing Authority of City of Fort Smith, 256 Ark. 254 (1974), for the point that a housing authority is separate from its municipality.

Q: What is a "blighted area" under the statute?
A: § 14-169-604(1) defines it as "areas, including slum areas, with buildings and improvements which ... are detrimental to the safety, health, morals, or welfare of the community."

Q: Does this opinion decide whether an agency can compel a property owner to sell?
A: No. It says an agency can acquire property for redevelopment or urban renewal projects and must acquire it before razing it. It does not analyze how an agency may acquire a particular property or whether it can compel a sale.

Q: What about a building that is dangerous before the agency has acquired it?
A: The opinion says an urban renewal agency must acquire property before it can raze it. It separately cites § 14-56-203, which permits cities to order removal or razing of certain dilapidated, unsafe, or other listed buildings. It does not address a joint city-agency demolition.

Q: Does the agency have to follow specific demolition procedures?
A: The opinion does not set out demolition procedures. It cites § 14-169-704(b)(2), which requires an urban renewal plan to be sufficiently complete to indicate proposed land acquisition, demolition, and removal of structures in the project area.

Background and statutory framework

The Arkansas urban renewal scheme spreads across two subchapters:

• Subchapter 6 (§§ 14-169-601 et seq., redevelopment projects) authorizes housing authorities and urban renewal agencies to "carry out any work or undertaking to be called a 'redevelopment project.'" "Redevelopment activities" can be undertaken in blighted or deteriorating areas, with "clearance" listed among the public uses for which property may be acquired.

• Subchapter 7 (§§ 14-169-701 et seq., urban renewal projects) authorizes both urban renewal agencies and housing authorities to plan and undertake urban renewal projects. § 14-169-703(a)(2)(b) contemplates "demolition, removal, or rehabilitation of buildings and improvements" within an urban renewal project. § 14-169-704(b)(2) requires the urban renewal plan to indicate proposed demolition. § 14-169-705(a) supplies the "necessary or convenient" power. § 14-169-801(a) says agencies "may acquire real property in the urban renewal area" and "demolish improvements on it."

The AG concluded that an agency's razing authority in these projects concerns acquired property. The opinion contrasts that authority with the city's power under § 14-56-203 to order the razing of certain unsafe or dilapidated buildings, citing Springfield v. City of Little Rock, 226 Ark. 462 (1956).

Citations

• Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-601 (redevelopment definitions and public uses)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-604 (redevelopment activities; clearance)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-605(a) (agency powers track housing authority powers)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-203(11)(A)(i) (housing project includes demolition)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-701(2); § 14-169-703(a)(1), (a)(2)(b); § 14-169-704(b)(2); § 14-169-705(a); § 14-169-709; § 14-169-801(a) (urban renewal projects)
• Ark. Code Ann. § 14-56-203 (city authority to raze)
• Springfield v. City of Little Rock, 226 Ark. 462, 290 S.W.2d 620 (1956)
• City of Fort Smith v. Housing Authority of City of Fort Smith, 256 Ark. 254, 506 S.W.2d 534 (1974)

Source

• Landing page: https://arkansasag.gov/divisions/opinions-foia/attorney-general-opinions-search/

Original opinion text

Opinion No. 2019-043
September 11, 2019

The Honorable Trent Garner
State Senator
P.O. Box 10487
El Dorado, AR 71730

Dear Senator Garner:

This is in response to your request for an opinion on the following questions:

1. As used in Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-601, can the term "clearance" mean or include "razing"?
2. As used in Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-705, can the phrase "necessary or convenient" include the demolition or razing of properties?
3. Does Arkansas law require an urban renewal agency to acquire a property/structure before it can raze it?

RESPONSE

I take it that your questions are premised on the notion concerning the razing of property by a housing authority or an urban renewal agency as part of either entity's larger scope of the development and implementation of a redevelopment plan pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-601 et seq., or an urban renewal project under Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-701 et seq. With this understanding in mind, the answers to all three of your questions, in my opinion, are "yes." First, the word "clearance" in Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-601 can mean or include razing areas acquired by an urban renewal agency or housing authority for a redevelopment project. Second, the phrase "necessary or convenient" in Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-705 can mean or include the demolition or razing of properties acquired for an urban renewal project. Third, an urban renewal agency is required to acquire property before it can raze it.

DISCUSSION

Question 1: As used in Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-601, can the term "clearance" mean or include "razing"?

Section 14-169-601 is part of a body of law that authorizes housing authorities and urban renewal agencies to "carry out any work or undertaking to be called a 'redevelopment project.'" "Redevelopment activities" may be undertaken in "blighted areas ... or areas that are in the process of becoming blighted." The "clearance" of these areas is among the "public uses and purposes" for which "private property [may be] acquired":

> The clearance, replanning, and preparation for rebuilding of these areas and the prevention or the reduction of blight and its causes are public uses and purposes for which public money may be spent and private property acquired and are governmental functions of state concern.

The word "clearance" in section 14-169-601, therefore, relates to the power of housing authorities and urban renewal agencies to clear areas of real property (including blighted areas) they have acquired in connection with redevelopment projects. I believe "clearance" here can mean or include "razing," which generally means "[t]o level to the ground; demolish." In undertaking such projects, these entities "have all the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities that a housing authority has under the Housing Authorities Act...." That Act gives a housing authority the power to, among other things, carry out a "housing project," which is defined in part as "any work or undertaking to ... [d]emolish, clear, or remove buildings from any slum area."

Thus, when a housing authority or urban renewal agency "clear[s] any areas acquired" as part of a redevelopment project, that activity plainly can include razing, i.e., demolishing property.

Question 2: As used in Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-705, can the phrase "necessary or convenient" include the demolition or razing of properties?

Section 14-169-705 states that housing authorities and urban renewal agencies "shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to undertake and carry out urban renewal plans and urban renewal projects, including the authority to acquire and dispose of property...." As with redevelopment plans or projects under Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-601 et seq., discussed above, these powers plainly include the "demolition" (or razing) of property acquired by the housing authority or urban renewal agency in the urban renewal project area.

The answer to this question is, therefore "yes" regarding properties acquired for an urban renewal project.

Question 3: Does Arkansas law require an urban renewal agency to acquire a property/structure before it can raze it?

Unlike cities, urban renewal agencies and housing authorities have not been granted the power to order the removal or razing of dilapidated, unsightly, or unsafe buildings on their own authority. Consequently, the answer to this question is "yes," an urban renewal agency must acquire a property or structure before it can raze it. See responses to Questions 1 and 2 (regarding authority to demolish property that has been acquired).

Sincerely,

LESLIE RUTLEDGE
Attorney General

1 Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-604 (Supp. 2017).

2 Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-601(4)(A) (Repl. 1998).

3 Id. at § 14-169-601(1) (Repl. 1998). “Blighted areas” are defined as “areas, including slum areas, with buildings and improvements which ... are detrimental to the safety, health, morals, or welfare of the community.” Id. at § 14-169-604(1).

4 Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-601(3).

5 THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 1462, def. 1 (2011).

6 Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-605(a) (Repl. 1998).

7 Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-203(11)(A)(i) (Repl. 1998).

8 Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-604(4).

9 See also Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-801(a) (Repl. 1998) (“A housing authority or an urban renewal agency authorized to carry on urban renewal or redevelopment activities in connection with the undertaking and carrying out of an urban renewal project may acquire real property in the urban renewal area, [and] demolish improvements on it....”) (emphasis added).

10 Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-705(a) (Supp. 2017). See also Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-703(a)(1) (Supp. 2017) (“An urban renewal agency under § 14-169-709 or a housing authority under § 14-169-601 et seq. is authorized to plan and undertake urban renewal projects.”).

11 Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-703(a)(2)(b) (Supp. 2017) (an urban renewal project may include the acquisition of a slum area or a deteriorated or deteriorating area, or of any other real property in the urban renewal project area, including for the purposes of “demolition, removal, or rehabilitation of buildings and improvements.”). See also Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-701(2) (Repl. 1998) (declaring that “[c]ertain slum, blighted, or deteriorated areas, or portions of them, may require acquisition and clearance, as provided in this subchapter....”); Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-704(b)(2) (requiring that an urban renewal plan be “[s]ufficiently complete to indicate such land acquisition, demolition, and removal of structures ... as may be proposed to be carried out in the area of the urban renewal project....”); Ark. Code Ann. § 14-169-801(a), supra n.9 (regarding authority to “demolish improvements on” property acquired in the urban renewal area).

12 Ark. Code Ann. § 14-56-203 (Supp. 2017) (“Cities of the first class, cities of the second class, and incorporated towns may order the removal or razing of, or remove or raze, buildings or houses that in the opinion of the city council or town council have become dilapidated, unsightly, unsafe, unsanitary, obnoxious, or detrimental to the public welfare and shall provide by ordinance the manner of removing and making these removals.”). See Springfield v. City of Little Rock, 226 Ark. 462, 290 S.W.2d 620 (1956) (citing the now-codified section 14-56-203 and the city's police power in upholding the city's authority to condemn and order the removal (razing) of housing units that were unsanitary and dangerous to public health due to disrepair).

On the other hand, an urban renewal agency, like a housing authority, is separate from the city in which it exists. See City of Fort Smith v. Housing Authority of City of Fort Smith, 256 Ark. 254, 259, 506 S.W.2d 534, 537 (1974) (observing that a housing authority is “created for the performance of a state function, separate and apart from the municipality in which it exists.”).