Section 502. Definitions

As used in this article and article fifteen-A of
  this chapter, the following terms shall mean:
    1. "Governing body." (a) In a city,  the  board  of  aldermen,  common
  council,  commission  or  other  body vested by its charter or other law
  with jurisdiction to enact ordinances or local laws, except  that  in  a
  city  having  a  population  of  one million or more the term "governing
  body" shall, as to such city, mean the council or mayor, as appropriate,
  who shall act pursuant to this article in  accordance  with  the  powers
  vested  in  them  by the charter of such city, or by other law; (b) in a
  town, the town board; (c) in a village, the board of trustees.
    2. "Municipality." A city, town or village.
    3. "Urban renewal." A program established, conducted and planned by  a
  municipality  for  the  redevelopment,  through  clearance,  replanning,
  reconstruction, rehabilitation, and concentrated code enforcement, or  a
  combination  of  these  and other methods, of substandard and insanitary
  areas of such municipalities, and for recreational and other  facilities
  incidental  or  appurtenant  thereto, pursuant to and in accordance with
  article eighteen of the constitution and this article,  including  those
  programs  authorized  by  and to effectuate the purposes of title one of
  the housing act of nineteen hundred forty-nine and section three hundred
  fourteen  of  title  three  of  the  housing  act  of  nineteen  hundred
  fifty-four, whether such programs and contracts pursuant thereto were in
  process  on  or  before June sixteenth, nineteen hundred sixty-eight and
  all  federal  laws  amendatory  and  supplementary  thereto.  The  terms
  "clearance, replanning, reconstruction and rehabilitation" shall include
  renewal,  redevelopment, conservation, restoration or improvement or any
  combination thereof as well as relocation activities and the testing and
  reporting of methods and  techniques  for  the  arrest,  prevention  and
  elimination  of slums and blight; the term "program" may mean or include
  and be interchangeable with the term "project."
    4.  "Substandard  or  insanitary  area."  The  term  "substandard   or
  insanitary  area"  shall  mean  and  be  interchangeable  with  a  slum,
  blighted, deteriorated or deteriorating area, or an  area  which  has  a
  blighting  influence  on  the  surrounding  area,  whether  residential,
  non-residential, commercial, industrial, vacant, or  land  in  highways,
  railway  and  subway tracks, bridge and tunnel approaches and entrances,
  or other similar facilities, over which  air  rights  and  easements  or
  other  rights  of user necessary for the use and development of such air
  rights, to be developed as air rights sites for the elimination  of  the
  blighting  influence,  or  any combination thereof and may include land,
  buildings or improvements, or air rights and  concomitant  easements  or
  other  rights  of user necessary for the use and development of such air
  rights, not in themselves substandard or insanitary,  the  inclusion  of
  which  is  deemed necessary for the effective undertaking of one or more
  urban renewal programs.
    5. "Agency." The officer,  board,  commission,  department,  or  other
  agency  of  the  municipality  designated  by  the governing body, or as
  otherwise provided by law, to carry out  the  functions  vested  in  the
  agency  under  this  article or delegated to the agency by the governing
  body in order to carry out the purpose and provisions of  this  article.
  The   term  "agency"  shall  include  a  corporate  governmental  agency
  established pursuant to article fifteen-A of this chapter.
    6. "Comprehensive community plan." The term  "comprehensive  community
  plan"  shall  mean and be interchangeable with "master plan" or "general
  plan."
    7. "Urban renewal plan." A plan for an urban  renewal  project,  which
  shall conform to the comprehensive community plan for the development of
  the  municipality  as  a  whole and which shall be consistent with local

  objectives. Such urban renewal plan  shall  include  but  shall  not  be
  limited   to:   a   statement  of  proposed  land  uses;  proposed  land
  acquisition, demolition and removal of structures; proposed  acquisition
  of  air  rights  and  concomitant  easements  or  other  rights  of user
  necessary for the use and  development  of  such  air  rights;  proposed
  methods  or  techniques  of urban renewal; proposed public, semi-public,
  private or community facilities or utilities; a statement as to proposed
  new codes and ordinances and amendments to existing codes and ordinances
  as are required or necessary to effectuate the plan; proposed program of
  code enforcement; a proposed time schedule for the effectuation of  such
  plan,  and such additional statements or documentation as the agency may
  deem appropriate.
    8. "Commission." The planning commission or other analogous  body  or,
  if  there  be none, the board of estimate or other governing body of the
  municipality.
    9. "Urban renewal area." An area designated by the governing body,  or
  by  the  commission  where  so  authorized to act by the governing body,
  pursuant to section five hundred four of this article as appropriate for
  urban renewal, except that in municipalities having a population of  one
  million  or  more,  such  designation  shall be made only after a public
  hearing held by the governing body or the commission, as  the  case  may
  be.
    10.  "State  capital  grant."  A  capital  grant  or subsidy paid to a
  municipality or an agency established  pursuant  to  the  provisions  of
  article fifteen-A of this chapter with monies appropriated therefor from
  the  general  fund  of the state and not to be applied to the payment of
  principal and interest on any state loan made or contracted to  be  made
  pursuant to this article.
    11.  "Commissioner." The commissioner of housing and community renewal
  of the state of New York.