USE OF PUBLIC OR PRIVATE RESOURCES

(a) To further the urban renewal objectives of this chapter, a municipality may formulate a workable program to use appropriate private and public resources, including the resources specified by Subsection (b), to encourage urban rehabilitation, to provide for the redevelopment of slum and blighted areas, or to undertake those activities or other feasible municipal activities as may be suitably employed to achieve the objective of the program. The program must specifically include provisions relating to: (1) prevention, through diligent enforcement of housing and occupancy controls and standards, of the expansion of blight into areas of the municipality that are free from blight; and (2) rehabilitation or conservation of slum and blighted areas as far as practicable to areas that are free from blight through replanning, removing congestion, providing parks, playgrounds, and other public improvements, encouraging voluntary rehabilitation and requiring the repair and rehabilitation of deteriorated or deteriorating structures, and the clearance and redevelopment of slum areas. (b) Each municipality, to the greatest extent determined to be feasible, shall afford the maximum opportunity, consistent with the needs of the municipality as a whole, for the rehabilitation or redevelopment of the urban renewal area by private enterprise. A municipality shall consider this objective in exercising powers under this chapter, including: (1) formulation of a workable program for urban renewal under Subsection (a); (2) approval of urban renewal plans consistent with the general plan of the municipality; (3) exercise of zoning power; (4) enforcement of other laws, codes, and regulations relating to land use, use and occupancy of buildings and improvements, and the disposition of any property acquired; and (5) provision of necessary public improvements.