(a) An urban renewal project for an urban renewal area shall not be planned or initiated unless the Authority has determined, with the approval of the Governor, that such area is a slum area or a blighted area or a combination thereof and that the area is appropriate for an urban renewal project. The Authority shall not acquire real property for, nor otherwise undertake an urban renewal project unless the urban renewal project has been approved in accordance with this Section.

(b) (1) The Authority may itself prepare or cause to be prepared urban renewal plans and may utilize for this purpose the assistance and cooperation of any agency, public or private.

(2) Any person or agency, public or private, may submit such an urban renewal plan to the Authority for its consideration and action.

(3) Prior to its adoption of an urban renewal plan, the Authority shall submit such plan to the Territorial Land Use Commission for review and recommendations as to its conformity with the master plan for the development of Guam.

(4) Within thirty (30) days after receipt of a proposed urban renewal plan from the Authority, the Land Use Commission shall submit its written recommendations with respect to the proposed urban renewal plan to the Authority for consideration.

(5) Upon receipt and consideration of the recommendation of the Land Use Commission or, if no recommendations are received within said thirty (30) days, then without such recommendations, the Authority may proceed with the public hearing prescribed by Subsection (c) hereof on the urban renewal project proposed by the urban renewal plan.

(c) The Authority shall hold a public hearing on a proposed urban renewal project, after public notice thereof.

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(1) The notice shall describe the hour, date, place and purpose of the hearing, shall generally identify the urban renewal area covered by the plan and shall outline the general scope of the proposed urban renewal project.

(2) The notice shall be published at least once a week for not less than two (2) successive weeks immediately prior to the date of the hearing, the first publication to be not less than ten (10) days prior to the date of the hearing, in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the community or locality in which the urban renewal area is situated, or, if there be no such newspaper, be posted in at least three (3) public places in the community or locality for not less than ten (10) days immediately prior to the date of the hearing.

(3) In the computation of the period of publication or posting, both the day of the first publication or posting and the day of the hearing shall be included.

(d) Within thirty (30) days after conclusion of the public hearing prescribed by Subsection (c), the Authority shall consider and act upon the proposed urban renewal plan and may, by resolution, adopt the urban renewal plan.

(e) Within fifteen (15) days after the adoption of an urban renewal plan by the Authority, or such longer time as the Governor may authorize at the Authority’s request in any instance, the Authority shall transmit to the Governor the following:

(1) a certified copy of the urban renewal plan as adopted by the
Authority;

(2) a copy of the report and recommendations of the Land Use
Commission, if any;

(3) a statement by the Authority of the difference, if any, between the views of the Authority and the Land Use Commission;

(4) a summary report of the public hearing;

(5) a proposed financing plan for the project to include estimated costs of renewal activities, estimated return from the disposal of project lands, and the proposed means of furnishing such local grants-in-aid as may be required for the project; and

(6) a proposed relocation plan specifying a feasible method, including any temporary relocation measures proposed, for the

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relocation of families that will be displaced from the urban renewal area as a result of the project, such relocation plan to show that there are or are being provided, in the urban renewal area or in other areas not generally less desirable in regard to public utilities and public and commercial facilities and at rents or prices within the financial means of the families to be displaced, decent, safe and sanitary dwelling units, private or public, equal in number to such displaced families and reasonably accessible to their places of employment. Any such relocation plan shall also indicate the method and manner of relocating in appropriate facilities any single persons that will be displaced by the urban renewal project.

The Governor, if he approves, shall transmit the foregoing documenta- tion and plans, together with his findings with respect thereto, including specific findings as to those matters set forth in Subsection (f) hereof, to the Legislature at its next regular or special session.

(f) The Legislature at any regular or special session during which an urban renewal plan, the supporting documentation as listed in Subsection (e) hereof and the Governor’s findings thereon, is transmitted to it by the Governor, shall consider such urban renewal project during that session. The Legislature may formally approve the same, by resolution or otherwise, or, if no action either to approve or reject is taken during that session, it shall be deemed to have approved.

(1) Approval of the project shall include findings that

(A) a feasible method for the location of families who will be displaced from the urban renewal area in decent, safe and sanitary dwelling accommodations within their means and without undue hardship to such families;

(B) the urban renewal plan conforms to the master plan for
Guam; and

(C) the urban renewal plan will afford maximum opportunity, consistent with the sound needs of Guam, for the rehabilitation or redevelopment of the urban renewal area by private enterprise; provided, that if the urban renewal area or a portion thereof consists of an area of open land to be acquired by the Authority, such area shall not be so acquired unless

(i) if it is to be developed for residential uses, it is determined that a shortage of housing of sound standards

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and design which is decent, safe and sanitary exists in the community; that the need for housing accommodations has been or will be increased as a result of the clearance of slums in other areas; that the conditions of blight in the area and the shortage of decent, safe and sanitary housing cause or contribute to an increase in and spread of disease and crime and constitute a menace to the public health, safety, morals or welfare; and that the acquisition of the area for residential uses is an integral part of and essential to the program for the community, or

(ii) if it is to be developed for nonresidential uses, it is determined that such nonresidential uses are necessary and appropriate to facilitate the proper growth and development of the community in accordance with sound planning standards and local community objectives, which acquisition may require the exercise of governmental action, as provided in this Article, because of defective or unusual conditions of title, diversity of ownership, tax delinquency, improper subdivision, outmoded street patterns, obsolete platting, deterioration of site, economic disuse, unsuitable topography or faulty lot layouts, the need for the correlation of the area with other areas of the community by streets and modern traffic requirements, or any combination of such factors or other conditions which retard development of the area.

(2) If the urban renewal plan is for an urban renewal project for which federal financial aid is contemplated under the Housing Act of 1949, as amended, the approval of the project shall also include findings that federal financial aid is necessary to enable the project to be undertaken in accordance with the urban renewal plan; and a determination and recognition that certain contributions or local grants-in-aid on the part of Guam, as determined in accordance with the Housing Act of 1949, as amended, and other applicable law, will be required for the urban renewal project.

(g) Upon approval of an urban renewal project, the Governor may authorize the undertaking of the project by the Authority in accordance with the urban renewal plan.

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(h) An urban renewal plan may be modified at any time; provided, that if modified after the lease or sale by the Authority of real property in the urban renewal area, such modification shall be subject to such rights at law or equity as a lessee or purchaser, or his successor or successors in interest may be entitled to assert.

(i) Upon the approval of an urban renewal project, the provisions of the urban renewal plan with respect to the future use and building requirements applicable to the property covered by said plan shall be controlling with respect thereto and shall have the force and effect of law, and the Authority may thereafter carry out the project.

(j) Any urban renewal plan for an approved project shall be filed for record in the Department of Land Management in such a manner as to afford actual or constructive notice of the provisions of such plan. Thereafter, reference, in any instrument or document to the provisions of such recorded plan and the recordation thereof, shall be for all purposes the same as though the referred to provision or provisions were set forth in full in such instrument or document.

SOURCE: GC § 13910.

2017 NOTE: Subsection and subitem designations altered/added pursuant to the authority of 1 Guam Code Ann. § 1606.