Current through the 2024 Budget Session
Section 15-9-202 - Definitions(a) As used in this article, unless the context otherwise requires:(i) "Authority" means a downtown development authority created pursuant to the provisions of this article in any municipality of this state and any successor to its functions, authority, rights and obligations;(ii) "Blighted area" means an area within the central business district which, by reason of the presence of a substantial number of deteriorated or deteriorating structures, predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, usefulness, or unsanitary or unsafe conditions, deterioration of site or other improvements, unusual topography, defective or unusual conditions of title rendering the title nonmarketable, 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 the central business district, 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;(iii) "Board" means the board of the authority or the governing body when acting as the authority pursuant to W.S. 15-9-203;(iv) "Central business district" means the area in a municipality which is and traditionally has been the location of the principal business, commercial, financial, service and governmental center, zoned or used accordingly;(v) "Development project" or "project" means undertakings and activities of an authority or municipality as authorized in this article in a designated area for the development or redevelopment of the area in accordance with a plan of development and includes: (A) The planning or management of development or improvement activities;(B) Landscaping or other maintenance of public areas;(C) Promotion of public events;(D) Activities in support of business recruitment and development;(E) Any other economic improvement activity for which an assessment may be made on property specially benefited thereby.(vi) "Director" means the chief executive officer of the authority;(vii) "District" means the authority or the area within which the authority may exercise its powers;(viii) "Downtown" means a specifically defined area of the municipality in the central business district, established by the governing body of the municipality pursuant to this article;(ix) "Governing body" means the city council, town council or other governing board of any municipality of this state;(x) "Landowner" means the owner in fee of any undivided interest in real property or any improvement permanently affixed thereto within the district. As used in this article, "owner in fee" includes a contract purchaser obligated to pay general taxes, an heir or a devisee under a will admitted to probate and does not include a contract seller of property with respect to which the contract purchaser is deemed to be the owner in fee for purposes of this paragraph;(xi) "Lessee" means the holder of a leasehold interest in real property within the district. As used in this article, "leasehold interest" does not include a license or mere contract right to use real property within the district;(xii) "Municipal sales tax" means revenues distributed to the municipalities from the state of Wyoming from the state sales tax as provided in W.S. 39-15-111, and includes the share distributed to a municipality from any tax collected under the provisions of W.S. 39-15-203;(xiii) "Plan of development" means a plan, as it exists from time to time, for the development or redevelopment of a downtown development area, including all properly approved amendments thereto;(xiv) "Plan of development area" or "development area" means an area in the central business district which the board and the governing body designate as appropriate for a development project;(xv) "Planning board" means the agency designated by the governing body of the municipality which is chiefly responsible for planning in the municipality and, if no separate agency exists, "planning board" means the governing body of the municipality;(xvi) "Property tax" means the revenue derived from the eight (8) mill tax authorized by Article 15, Section 6 of the Wyoming Constitution;(xvii) "Public body" means the state of Wyoming or any municipality, quasi-municipal corporation, board, commission, authority or other political subdivision or public corporate body of the state;(xviii) "Public facility" includes but is not limited to any streets, parks, plazas, parking facilities, playgrounds, pedestrian malls, rights-of-way, structures, waterways, bridges, lakes, ponds, canals, utility lines or pipes, and buildings, including access routes to any of the foregoing, designed for use by the public generally or used by any public agency with or without charge, whether or not the same is revenue-producing;(xix) "Qualified elector" means a resident as defined in this section;(xx) "Resident" means one who is a citizen of the United States and a resident of Wyoming, eighteen (18) years of age or older, who makes his residence within the municipality.