Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 04-28-09 regular — reading text

CRA Board. Pursuant to that statute, any person may be appointed as commissioner if he or she resides or is engaged in business, which means owning a business, practicing a profession, or performing a service for compensation, or serving as an officer or director of a corporation or other business entity so engaged, within the area of operation of the agency, which shall be coterminous with the area of operation of the county or municipality. " Area of operation" is defined to mean " for a municipality, the area within the corporate limits of the municipality. " Therefore, a resident of the City or a person engaged in business in the City can serve as a commissioner of the Community Redevelopment Agency. The City' s Code of Ordinances is silent on the residency requirements for commissioners of the Community Redevelopment Agency. For the other City boards, the residency requirement is stated in the Code section regarding each board. This ordinance will make section 2. 06. 01 consistent with other board provisions in the Code and with state statutes by inserting the proper language regarding residency. Having that sentence in the Code also will enable citizens to more easily determine if they meet the residency requirements for membership on the CRA. PO Box 2917 Recommended Motion: Move to adopt Ordinance 1795 on first reading. 105 Lewis St Ste 102 Fort Walton Beach FL 32549 PHONE: ( 850) 243 -6969 FAX: ( 850) 244 -8929 E -MAIL: tonicraig @cox. net WEB SITE: www.tonicraig. info  Florida Attorney General Advisory Legal Opinion Number: AGO 90 -19 Date: March 9, 1990 Subject: Residence req. /app. mbrs of comm. redevelopment agency Mr. Paul R. Gougelman, III Attorney for City of Cocoa Redevelopment Agency 1825 South Riverview Drive Melbourne, Florida 32901 RE: MUNICIPALITIES -- COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT ACT -- RESIDENCE REQUIREMENTS -- residence requirements for appointed members of community redevelopment agency. s. 163. 356 ( 3) ( b) , F. S. Dear Mr. Gougelman: As the attorney for the City of Cocoa Redevelopment Agency you have asked for my opinion on substantially the following questions: 1. Pursuant to s. 163. 357, F. S., must an appointed member of a municipal community redevelopment agency reside within the geographic boundaries of the commu nity redevelopment area, or is the member required to be a resident of the municipality within which the community redevelopment agency is located? 2. If the appointed member must reside within the geographic boundaries of the community redevelopment area, does that individual cease to be a member of the agency if he or she changes residence to an area within the municipality but outside the geographic limits of the community redevelopment agency? 3. If the appointed member of a municipal community redevelopment agency need only live within the city limits, may the local government creating the agency, or the agency itself, require the appointed members of the agency to reside within the geographic limits of the community redevelopment area? In sum: 1. and 2. Section 163. 356( 3)( b), F. S., establishes residence requirements for the commissioners of a community redevelopment agency and mandates that appointed commissioners must reside in or be engaged in business " within the area of operation of the agency, which shall be coterminous with the area of operation of the . . . municipality . . . ." 3. Neither a municipality nor the community redevelopment agency which it establishes possesses the authority to impose residence requirements for appointed commissioners of the agency in conflict with those residence requirements set forth in s. 163. 356( 3) ( b) , F. S. Your letter states that the City of Cocoa passed an ordinance in the early 1980' s to form a redevelopment agency pursuant to s. 163. 356, F. S. The agency consisted of five members at that time. Subsequently the governing body of the city adopted a resolution, pursuant to s. 163. 357, F. S., which increased the board of the redevelopment agency to seven members: five city council members and two appointed members. Your questions are directed to residence require- ments for the appointed members of the community redevelop- ment agency. Questions One and Two The Community Redevelopment Act of 1969, codified as Part III of Ch. 163, F. S., was enacted to enable counties and municipalities to eliminate and prevent the development or spread of slums and urban blight, to encourage needed community rehabilitation and to provide for the redevelop- ment of slums and blighted areas.[ l] A municipality, upon a finding of necessity[ 2] and the need for an agency to function in the municipality to carry out the purposes set forth in the act, may create a body corporate and politic known as a " community redevelopment agency. " 3 Such an agency constitutes a public instrumentality and the exercise of powers conferred by the act is deemed to be the performance of an essential public function.[ 4] When the governing body of a municipality has adopted a resolution declaring the need for a community redevelopment agency, that body shall, by ordinance, appoint a board of commissioners as the governing body of the agency. The board shall consist of not fewer than five nor more than seven commissioners.[ 5] Section 163. 356( 3)( b), F. S., provides that: The powers of a community redevelopment agency shall be exercised by the commissioners thereof. A majority of the commissioners constitutes a quorum for the purpose of conducting business and exercising the powers of the agency and for all other purposes. Action may be taken by the agency upon a vote of a majority of the commis- sioners present, unless in any case the bylaws require a larger number. Any person may be appointed as commissioner if he resides or is engaged in business, which means owning a business, practicing a profession, or performing a service for compensation, or serving as an officer or director of a corporation or other business entity so engaged, within the area of operation of the agency, which shall be coterminous with the area and of operation of the county or municipality, is otherwise eligible for such appointment under this part. ( e. s.) The statute states that members of the community redevelop- ment agency must reside or engage in business within the area of operation of the agency, which is coterminous with the territorial boundaries or limits of the county or municipality. " Area of operation" is defined to mean " for a municipality, the area within the corporate limits of the municipality. "[ 6] In contrast, a "[ c] omuunity redevelopment area" is defined to mean " a slum area, a blighted area, or an area in which there is a shortage of housing that is affordable to residents of low or moderate income, including the elderly, or a combination thereof which the governing body designates as appropriate for community redevelop - ment."[7] Clearly then, the area of operation for a municipal redevelopment agency is within the territorial boundaries of the municipality itself, although the community redevelopment area may represent a smaller area within the municipality.[ 8] Section 163. 356( 3)( b), F. S., supra, does not require that the appointed members of the agency reside or engage in business within the community redevelopment area but within the area of operation of the agency, which shall be coterminous with the area of operation of the . . . munici- pality . . . ." It is a fundamental rule of statutory construction that, where the legislative intent as evidenced by a statute is plain and unambiguous, there is no necessity for any construction or interpretation of the statute and effect need only be given to the plain meaning of its terms . [ 9 ] Thus, pursuant to s. 163. 356( 3)( b), F. S., an appointed commissioner of a municipal redevelopment agency must reside or be engaged in business within the area of opera- tion of the agency, that is, within the municipality. Question Three You also ask whether a municipality or the redevelopment agency itself may impose a residence requirement which differs from that prescribed by statute for appointed members of a municipal redevelopment agency governing board. Part III of Ch. 163, F. S., prescribes with particularity the structural organization and powers of community redevelop- ment agencies, the composition and number of the members thereof and their terms of office. In addition, as discussed above, residence requirements for appointed commissioners of such agencies are set forth. I find no provision in the act which delegates the authority or otherwise authorizes or empowers the city commission to alter the statutorily prescribed residence requirements for appointed commissioners of the community redevelopment agency.[ 10] While municipalities possess home rule powers, such powers are not unlimited and in those instances where a municipal ordinance is in conflict with state statute, the ordinance must fail. [11] The Legislature has prescribed with particularity the residence requirements for appointed members of the board of commissioners of community redevelopment agencies established pursuant to Part III, Ch. 163,