§ 26-1-102. ACQUISITION OF PROPERTY FOR COMMERCIAL OR INDUSTRIAL PURPOSES; EMINENT DOMAIN.

(a)

Within the designated revitalization district, the county may acquire in connection with a revitalization project, within the county limits, land and property of every kind, any right, interest, franchise, easement, or privilege, including land or property, and any right or interest already devoted to public use, by purchase, lease, gift, condemnation, or any other legal means; provided, however, that land or property in each single ownership acquired as indicated in the approved revitalization plan for the purpose of sale, lease, or other transfer to any person or entity shall have been used for either commercial or industrial purposes.

(b)

Land or property taken by the county for any of these purposes or in connection with the exercise of any of the powers which are granted by this article to the county by exercising the power of eminent domain may not be taken without just compensation. Any condemnation of land or property under the provisions of this article shall be in accordance with the procedure provided in Article 3, Title 9, Subtitle 1 of this Code.

(c)

All land or property needed or taken by the exercise of the power of eminent domain by the county for any of these purposes or in connection with the exercise of any of the powers granted by this article is declared to be needed or taken for public uses and purposes.

(d)

Any or all of the activities authorized pursuant to this article constitute governmental functions undertaken for public uses and purposes. The power of taxation may be exercised, public funds expended, and public credit extended in their furtherance. The county may issue revenue bonds to finance the undertaking of any revitalization project and related activities. It may also issue refunding bonds for the payment or retirement of its previously issued bonds. The bonds shall be made payable, as to both principal and interest, solely from the income, proceeds, revenues, and funds of the county derived from or held in connection with the undertaking and carrying out of revitalization projects under this article.

(e)

The county may sell, lease, or otherwise transfer real property or any acquired interest in property for a revitalization project to any person for recreational, commercial, industrial, educational, or other nonresidential uses or for public use or it may retain the property or interest for public use, in accordance with the revitalization plan and subject to whatever covenants, conditions, and restrictions, including covenants running with the land, as it considers necessary or desirable to assist in carrying out the purposes of this article. Purchasers or lessees and their successors and assigns shall be obligated to devote the real property solely to the uses specified in the revitalization plan and may be obligated to comply with whatever other requirements the county determines to be in the public interest, including the obligation to begin within a reasonable time any improvements on the real property required by the revitalization plan. The real property or interest may not be sold, leased, transferred, or retained at less than its fair market value for uses in accordance with the revitalization plan. In determining the fair market value of real property for uses in accordance with the revitalization plan, the county shall take into account and give consideration to the uses provided in the plan, the restrictions upon, and the covenants, conditions, and obligations assumed by the purchaser or lessee or by the county retaining the property, and the objectives of the plan. In any instrument or conveyance to a private purchaser or lessee, the county may provide that the purchaser or lessee may not sell, lease, or otherwise transfer the real property without the prior written consent of the county until he has completed the construction of any or all improvements which he has obligated himself to construct on the property. Real property acquired by the county which, in accordance with the provisions of the revitalization plan, is to be transferred shall be transferred as rapidly as feasible in the public interest consistent with implementing the provisions of the revitalization plan. Any contract for the transfer and the revitalization plan (or whatever part or parts of the contract or plan as the county determines) shall be recorded in the land records of the county in a manner so as to afford actual or constructive notice of it.

(f)

The county may operate temporarily and maintain real property acquired by it in a revitalization area for or in connection with a revitalization project pending the disposition of the property as authorized in this section, without regard for the provisions contained elsewhere in this article, for uses and purposes considered desirable even though not in conformity with the revitalization plan.

(g)

Any instrument executed by the county and purporting to convey any right, title, or interest in any property under this article shall be presumed conclusively to have been executed in compliance with the provisions of this article insofar as title or other interest of any bona fide purchasers, lessees, or transferees of the property is concerned.

(Laws of Md. (1979), ch. 706, § 1(29A-2)) (1988 Code, § 9-102) (Bill No. 47-02, § 2, 7-1-2004)