Guam § 5102 - Definitions.

§ 5102. Definitions.

(a) As used in this Article, unless it is otherwise provided or the

context requires a different construction, application or meaning:

COL4122017

(1) Authority means the Guam Housing and Urban Renewal

Authority referred to in § 5103.

(2) Federal Government means the United States of America or

any department, agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise of

the United States.

(3) Government of Guam means the body politic established by

the Organic Act of Guam.

(4) Legislature means the Guam Legislature.

(5) Governor means the Governor of Guam.

(6) Area of operation means the total geographical area within

the boundaries of Guam.

(7) Slum area means an area in which there is a predominance

of buildings or improvements, whether residential or nonresidential,

which by reason of dilapidation, deterioration, age or obsolescence,

inadequate provision for ventilation, light, air, sanitation or open

spaces, high density of population and overcrowding, or the

existence of any conditions which endanger life or property by fire

or other causes, or any combination of such factors is conducive to

ill health, transmission of disease, infant mortality, juvenile

delinquency or crime and is detrimental to the public health, safety,

morals or welfare.

(8) Blighted area means an area, other than a slum area, 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 or usefulness, unsanitary or unsafe conditions,

deterioration of site or other improvements, diversity of ownership,

defective or unusual conditions of title, improper subdivision or

obsolete platting, 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 a

community, 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.

COL4122017

(9) Urban renewal area means a slum area or a blighted area or

a combination thereof which is designated as appropriate for an

urban renewal project.

(10) Locality or community means any cohesive population

area within the boundaries of Guam that would be commonly

described as a city, town or village.

(11) Housing project means any work or undertaking or

activity to provide decent, safe and sanitary urban or rural

dwellings, apartments and other living accommodations for families

of low income.

(A) Such work, undertaking or activity may include

buildings, land, equipment, facilities, other real or personal

property for necessary, convenient or desirable appurtenances,

streets, sewers and other sanitary facilities and services, water

supply, utilities, parks, site preparation, landscaping and

administrative, community, health, recreational, welfare and

similar facilities and services.

(B) The term also extends to the planning of buildings and

improvements, the acquisition of property, the demolition of

existing structures, the clearance of slum areas, the

construction, reconstruction, alteration or repair of the

improvements, and all other work in connection therewith, as

well as to all other real or personal property and tangible or

intangible assets held or used in connection with the housing

project.

(12) Urban renewal project means undertakings and activities

in an urban renewal area for the elimination and for the prevention

of the development or spread of slums and blight, and may involve

slum clearance and redevelopment in an urban renewal area, or

rehabilitation or conservation in an urban renewal area, or any

combination or part thereof in accordance with an urban renewal

plan. Such undertakings and activities may include:

(A) Acquisition of a slum area or a blighted area or

portion thereof;

(B) Demolition and removal of buildings and

improvements;

COL4122017

(C) Installation, construction or reconstruction of streets,

utilities, parks, playgrounds and other improvements necessary

for carrying out in the urban renewal area the urban renewal

objectives of this Article in accordance with the urban renewal

plan;

(D) Disposition of any property acquired in the urban

renewal area, including sale, initial leasing or retention by the

Authority itself, at its fair value for uses in accordance with the

urban renewal plan;

(E) Carrying out plans for a program of voluntary or

compulsory repair and rehabilitation of buildings or other

improvements in accordance with the urban renewal plan; and

(F) Acquisition of any other real property in the urban

renewal area, where necessary, to eliminate unhealthful,

unsanitary or unsafe conditions, lessen density, eliminate

obsolete or other uses detrimental to the public welfare, or

otherwise to remove or prevent the spread of blight or

deterioration, or to provide land for needed public facilities.

(13) Project means a housing project or urban renewal project

and extends to all properties, assets, cash or other funds, used,

received or held in connection with the development or operation or

disposition of a project or any portion of a project.

(14) Urban renewal plan means a plan, as it exists from time to

time, for an urban renewal project, which plan:

(A) shall conform to the master plan for Guam, except as

provided in § 5114; and

(B) shall be sufficiently complete to indicate such land

acquisition, demolition and removal of structures,

redevelopment, improvements and rehabilitation as may be

proposed to be carried out in the urban renewal area, zoning

and planning changes if any, land uses, maximum densities,

building requirements, and the plan’s relationship to definite

objectives of Guam respecting appropriate land uses, improved

traffic, public transportation, public utilities, recreational and

community facilities, and other public improvements.

(15) Real property or land, unless restricted meaning is clearly

indicated, means all lands, including improvements and fixtures

COL4122017

thereon, and appurtenances thereto, or used in connection therewith,

and every estate, interest, right and use, legal or equitable, therein,

including terms for years, and liens by way of mortgage, pledge,

attachment, judgment or otherwise.

(16) Families of low income or low-income families means

individuals or families who are in the lowest income group in a

community, who cannot afford to pay enough to cause private

enterprise in their community to build an adequate supply of decent,

safe and sanitary housing for their use.

(17) Bonds means all bonds (including refunding bonds), notes,

debentures and any other types or forms of instruments or

obligation.

(16) Obligee of the Authority or obligee includes any

bondholder, agents or trustees for any bondholders or lessor

demising to the Authority property used in connection with a

project, or any assignee or successor of any of these, and the Federal

Government when it is a party to any contract with the Authority.

(17) Person means any individual, firm, partnership,

corporation, company, association, establishment, institution or

organization, private or public, and includes persons acting in a

representative or fiduciary capacity.

(18) Persons engaged in national defense activities means

individuals in the Armed Forces of the United States; employees of

the Department of Defense; and workers engaged or to be engaged

in activities connected with national defense. The term also includes

the families of the individuals, employees and workers who reside

with them.

(19) Major disaster means any flood, drought, fire, typhoon,

earthquake, storm or other catastrophe, natural or man-made

including destruction due to enemy action in time of war which the

Governor has determined to be of sufficient severity and magnitude

to warrant the use of available resources of the Federal Government

and the government of Guam to alleviate the damage, hardship or

suffering caused thereby.

(20) Public agency or agency means any department, bureau,

instrumentality, authority or official body, corporate or otherwise, or

COL4122017

any public official of the United States or of Guam, or of any state,

commonwealth, territory or possession of the United States.

(b) To the extent to which any definition in this Section relates to, or

is derived from the provisions of the United States Housing Act of 1937,

as amended, or the Housing Act of 1949, as amended, or the Housing

Act of 1954, as amended, it shall be construed as intended to conform to

those Acts, or to any future amendment of those Acts, as is intended to

include the broadest scope authorized by those Acts.