§ 14-184-115 - Powers of improvement district generally. - Arkansas Statutes

14-184-115. Powers of improvement district generally.

A central business improvement district shall have all powers necessary or desirable to undertake and carry out any or all parts of the planned improvement including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) Existence as a body corporate, having the power to sue and to be sued and to contract in its name;

(2) To own, acquire, improve, operate, maintain, sell, lease as lessor or lessee, and contract concerning, or otherwise deal in or dispose of, any and all real and personal property necessary or desirable for the accomplishment of the plan;

(3) (A) To acquire, construct, install, operate, maintain, and contract regarding pedestrian or shopping malls, plazas, sidewalks or moving sidewalks, parks, parking lots, parking garages, offices, urban residential facilities including, without limitation, apartments, condominiums, hotels, motels, convention halls, rooms, and related facilities, and buildings and structures to contain any of these facilities, bus stop shelters, decorative lighting, benches or other seating furniture, sculptures, telephone booths, traffic signs, fire hydrants, kiosks, trash receptacles, marquees, awnings or canopies, walls and barriers, paintings or murals, alleys, shelters, display cases, fountains, child-care facilities, restrooms, information booths, aquariums or aviaries, tunnels and ramps, and pedestrian and vehicular overpasses and underpasses;

(B) To acquire airspace for and to construct pedestrian walkways through buildings; and

(C) To construct each and every other useful, necessary, or desired facility or improvement that may secure and develop industry and be conducive to improved economic activity within the district.

(4) To landscape and plant trees, bushes and shrubbery, grass, flowers, and each and every other kind of decorative planting;

(5) To install and operate or to lease public music and news facilities;

(6) To acquire and operate buses, minibuses, mobile benches, and other modes of transportation;

(7) To construct and operate child care facilities;

(8) To acquire air rights for and to construct, operate, and maintain pedestrian overpasses, vehicular overpasses, public restaurants or other facilities within the air rights, to establish, operate, and maintain other restaurants or public eating facilities within the district, and to lease space within the district for sidewalk cafe tables and chairs;

(9) To construct lakes, dams, and waterways of whatever size;

(10) To employ and provide special police facilities and personnel for the protection and enjoyment of the property owners and the general public using the facilities of the district;

(11) To employ such persons as are necessary to procure such equipment as may be required to maintain the streets, alleys, malls, bridges, ramps, tunnels, lawns, trees, and decorative planting of each and every nature, and every structure or object of any nature whatsoever constructed or operated by the district;

(12) To grant permits for newsstands, sidewalk cafes, and every other useful and desired private usage of public or private property;

(13) To prohibit or restrict vehicular traffic on the streets within the district as the governing body may deem necessary and to provide the means for access by emergency vehicles to or in these areas;

(14) To acquire, construct, reconstruct, extend, maintain, operate, repair, or lease to others for public use parking lots or parking garages, both above and below ground, or other facilities for the parking of vehicles, including the power to install these facilities in public and private areas, whether these areas are owned in fee simple, by easement, or by leasehold, with the approval and authority of the governing body, and, where desirable, to exchange property in kind by negotiations with private owners in the acquisition of property and property rights for the public purposes contemplated by this subchapter;

(15) (A) To remove, by agreement or by the power of eminent domain, any existing structures or signs of any description in the district not conforming to the plan of improvement; and

(B) To require, whether by agreement or by the exercise of eminent domain, any or all utilities servicing the district to lay such pipe, extend such wires, provide such facilities, or conform, modify, or remove existing facilities to effectuate the plan of improvement for the district;

(16) To provide services for the improvement and operation of the district including, without limitation:

(A) Promotion and marketing;

(B) Advertising;

(C) Health and sanitation;

(D) Public safety;

(E) Security;

(F) Traffic and parking improvements;

(G) Recreation;

(H) Cultural enhancement;

(I) Consultation regarding planning, management, and development activities;

(J) Maintenance of improvements;

(K) Activities in support of business or residential recruitment, retention, or management development;

(L) Aesthetic improvements, including the decoration, restoration, or renovation of any public place or building facade and exterior in public view that confers a public benefit;

(M) Furnishing music in any public place;

(N) Special event and festival management;

(O) Professional management, planning, and promotion of the district;

(P) Stabilization, maintenance, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings; and

(Q) Design assistance; and

(17) To do everything necessary or desirable to effectuate the plan of improvement for the district.