Blight is comprised of combinations of physical conditions that prevent the orderly development of land from occurring or that contribute to an environment in which property values decline or are likely to decline.
Although the term blight may be subjective when considered at face value, there are a number of objective criteria that, when viewed collectively, either constitute or are indicative of blight . Toward this end, the Florida Legislature has defined a blighted area as ".an area in which there are a substantial number of deteriorated, or deteriorating structures, in which conditions.are leading to economic distress. and in which two (2) or more of the following objective criteria exist:
1. A predominance of defective or inadequate street layout, parking facilities, roadways, bridges, or public transportation facilities;
2. The aggregate assessed values of real property in the area for ad valorem tax purposes have failed to show any appreciable increase over the 5 years prior to the finding of such conditions;
3. Faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility, or usefulness;
4. Unsanitary or unsafe conditions;
5. The deterioration of site or other improvements;
6. Inadequate and outdated building density patterns;
7. Falling lease rates per square foot of office, commercial, or industrial space compared to the remainder of the county or municipality;
8. Tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land;
9. Residential and commercial vacancy rates higher in the area than in the remainder of the county or municipality;
10. Incidence of crime in the area higher than in the remainder of the county or municipality;
11. Fire and emergency medical service calls to the area proportionately higher than in the remainder of the county or municipality;
12. A greater number of violations of the Florida Building Code in the area than the number of violations recorded in the remainder of the county or municipality;
13. Diversity of ownership or defective or unusual conditions of title which prevent alienability of property; or
14. Government owned property with adverse environmental conditions caused by a public or private entity.
The presence of these criteria must be determined by government statistics or other research. Although the legislation does not address this issue specifically, these are objective criteria and can be judged or evaluated on some reasonable basis for their implications and impacts.
Blight has been established in the redevelopment area inasmuch as the infrastructure in the redevelopment area is altogether inadequate and seven (7) of the fourteen (14) statutory criteria have been identified. These seven (7) criteria are designated above as numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 13, respectively. [Click here to view the West Murdock Redevelopment Study Area Finding of Necessity Report.] As an alternative, blight can be established if any one (1) of the above fourteen (14) statutory criteria can be determined and all affected taxing authorities within the redevelopment area agree with the redevelopment agency that blight exists. In the present case, a finding of blight in the redevelopment area has all also been made by use of this alternative method. Since Charlotte County is the only taxing authority affected by the redevelopment Agency, a determination of blight was made pursuant to an Interlocal Agreement between Charlotte County and the redevelopment Agency that provides that the area is a blighted area . [Click here to view the Interlocal Agreement]
In conclusion, blight has been comprehensively documented and systematically established pursuant to both of the methods prescribed by statute. Although something of a subjective term, existing legislation provides guidelines for relevant indicators.