§16-18-27. Powers with respect to urban renewal.
A community or a public agency created under this article, shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to undertake and carry out urban renewal plans and urban renewal projects, including the authority to acquire and dispose of property, to issue bonds and other obligations, to borrow and accept grants from the federal government or other source and to exercise the other powers which this article confers on an authority with respect to redevelopment projects. In connection with the planning and undertaking of any urban renewal plan or urban renewal project, the authority, the community, and all public and private officers, agencies, and bodies shall have all the rights, powers, privileges, and immunities which they have with respect to a redevelopment plan or redevelopment project, in the same manner as though all of the provisions of this article applicable to a redevelopment plan or redevelopment project were applicable to an urban renewal plan or urban renewal project: Provided, That for such purpose the word "redevelopment" as used in this article (except in this section and in the definition of "redevelopment project" in section three shall mean "urban renewal," and the word "slum" and the word "blighted" as used in this article (except in this section and in the definitions in section three) shall mean "blighted, deteriorated, or deteriorating," and the finding prescribed in subsection (b) of section four with respect to a blighted area shall not be a required: Provided further, That any disaster area referred to in section twenty-five (b) shall constitute a "blighted area." In addition to the surveys and plan which an authority is otherwise authorized to make, an authority is hereby specifically authorized to make (i) plans for carrying out a program of voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements, (ii) plans for the enforcement of laws, codes, and regulations relating to the use of land and the use and occupancy of buildings and improvements, and to the compulsory repair, rehabilitation, demolition, or removal of buildings and improvements, (iii) plans for the relocation of persons (including families, business concerns and others) displaced by an urban renewal project, (iv) preliminary plans outlining urban renewal activities for neighborhoods to embrace two or more urban renewal areas, and (v) preliminary surveys to determine if the undertaking and carrying out of an urban renewal project are feasible. The authority is authorized to make relocation payments to or with respect to persons (including families, business concerns and others) displaced by an urban renewal project, for moving expenses and losses of property for which reimbursement of compensation is not otherwise made, including the making of such payments financed by the federal government. The authority is also authorized to develop, test, and report methods and techniques, and carry out demonstrations and other activities, for the prevention and the elimination of slums and urban blight.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session