Washington § 53.25.020 - Marginal lands — Further declaration.

It is further found and declared that:

(1) The existence of such marginal lands characterized by any or all of such conditions constitutes a serious and growing menace which is condemned as injurious and inimical to the public health, safety, and welfare of the people of the communities in which they exist and of the people of the state.

(2) Such marginal lands present difficulties and handicaps which are beyond remedy and control solely by regulatory processes in the exercise of the police power.

(3) They contribute substantially and increasingly to the problems of, and necessitate excessive and disproportionate expenditures for, crime prevention, correction, prosecution, and punishment, the treatment of juvenile delinquency, the preservation of the public health and safety, and the maintaining of adequate police, fire and accident protection, and other public services and facilities.

(4) This menace is becoming increasingly direct and substantial in its significance and effect.

(5) The benefits which will result from the remedying of such conditions and the redevelopment of such marginal lands will accrue to all the inhabitants and property owners of the communities in which they exist.

(6) Such conditions of marginal lands tend to further obsolescence, deterioration, and disuse because of the lack of incentive to the individual landowner and his or her inability to improve, modernize, or rehabilitate his or her property while the condition of the neighboring properties remains unchanged.

(7) As a consequence the process of deterioration of such marginal lands frequently cannot be halted or corrected except by redeveloping the entire area, or substantial portions of it.

(8) Such conditions of marginal lands are chiefly found in areas subdivided into small parcels, held in divided and widely scattered ownerships, frequently under defective titles, and in many such instances the private assembly of the land areas for redevelopment is so difficult and costly that it is uneconomic and as a practical matter impossible for owners to undertake because of lack of the legal power and excessive costs.

(9) The remedying of such conditions may require the public acquisition at fair prices of adequate areas, the redevelopment of the areas suffering from such conditions under proper supervision, with appropriate planning, and continuing land use.

(10) The development or redevelopment of land, or both, acquired under the authority of this chapter constitute a public use and are governmental functions, and that the sale or leasing of such land after the same has been developed or redeveloped is merely incidental to the accomplishment of the real or fundamental purpose, that is, to remove the condition which caused said property to be marginal property as in this chapter defined.