[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7209 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7209

  To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make 
grants to nonprofit community organizations for the development of open 
         space on municipally owned vacant lots in urban areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 28, 2008

 Mrs. Maloney of New York (for herself and Mr. Blumenauer) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Financial 
                                Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make 
grants to nonprofit community organizations for the development of open 
         space on municipally owned vacant lots in urban areas.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Revitalizing Cities Through Parks 
Enhancement Act''.

SEC. 2. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds that--
            (1) open spaces and community parks are a critically 
        important portion of urban infrastructure;
            (2) many inner-city areas suffer from a lack of public open 
        space for community residents to use for recreation, social 
        interaction, and relief from dense urban conditions;
            (3) vacant lots, many in public ownership as a result of 
        tax foreclosures, are common in inner-city areas;
            (4) the recent economic recession substantially increased 
        the number of such vacant lots;
            (5) such lots often become drug trafficking areas, thereby 
        decreasing the value of surrounding property and leading to 
        higher crime rates in inner-city areas; and
            (6) the refurbishment of such lots, by removing garbage and 
        rubble and creating well-lighted and maintained open spaces and 
        community parks, would establish positive assets for 
        surrounding communities, provide positive outlets for community 
        youth, increase property values, make other types of investment 
        in the communities more attractive, and generally improve the 
        quality of life for residents of the affected communities.

SEC. 3. AUTHORITY TO MAKE GRANTS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 
shall, to the extent amounts are provided in appropriation Acts 
pursuant to section 13, make grants under this Act to qualified 
community organizations for establishment of community open space in 
urban areas.
    (b) Amount.--The aggregate amount of any grants made under this Act 
to any single qualified community organization in any single fiscal 
year may not exceed $250,000.

SEC. 4. QUALIFIED COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS.

    A grant under this Act may be made only to a nonprofit organization 
that--
            (1) has among its purposes significant activities related 
        to the improvement of the neighborhood, community, or city in 
        which any property that is to be assisted with the grant under 
        this Act is located;
            (2) has a history of serving such neighborhood, community, 
        or city;
            (3) maintains, through significant representation on the 
        organization's governing board and otherwise, accountability to 
        residents of such neighborhood, community, or city; and
            (4) complies with such standards of financial 
        accountability as the Secretary may require.

SEC. 5. USE OF GRANT AMOUNTS.

    (a) Eligible Activities.--Amounts from a grant made under this Act 
may be used by the recipient of the grant only for costs relating to 
the establishment of community open space, as follows:
            (1) To develop eligible municipal real property for use as 
        community open space, which shall include design, clearance, 
        demolition, removal, beautification, site improvements, and 
        construction or installation of facilities and improvements for 
        such property.
            (2) To lease or otherwise obtain the use of eligible 
        municipal real property for establishment of community open 
        space.
            (3) To maintain community open space.
            (4) To cover other administrative costs related to the 
        establishment, development, maintenance, administration, 
        insurance, or management of the community open space, except 
        that not more than 10 percent of any single grant made under 
        this Act may be used for costs under this paragraph.
    (b) Development Plan Requirement.--Amounts from a grant made under 
this Act may be used by the recipient of a grant only to carry out 
activities under subsection (a) that are described in the development 
plan of the recipient approved by the Secretary under section 7 or that 
are described in an amendment to the development plan approved by the 
Secretary under section 9.
    (c) Community Involvement Requirements.--A qualified community 
organization that applies for a grant under this Act shall provide for 
involvement by interested residents and organizations of the 
neighborhood, community, or city in which the property to be assisted 
under the plan is located in--
            (1) establishing the development plan under section 7(b), 
        which shall include--
                    (A) making the proposed development plan available 
                in a manner that, in the determination of the 
                Secretary, provides interested parties a reasonable 
                opportunity to examine its content and to submit 
                comments on the proposed plan; and
                    (B) holding one or more public hearings to obtain 
                the views of interested parties regarding the proposed 
                plan; and
            (2) carrying out activities under the development plan, if 
        the qualified community organization is a recipient.

SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE MUNICIPAL REAL PROPERTY.

    Amounts from a grant under this Act may be used for costs under 
section 5(a) relating to the establishment of community open space only 
on real property that--
            (1) is owned in fee simple by the unit of general local 
        government in which the property is located;
            (2) is located in an urban area;
            (3) is free of structures, other than toilet or maintenance 
        facilities for the community open space; and
            (4) is subject to a binding commitment, entered into by the 
        unit of general local government that owns the property and the 
        eligible community organization receiving the grant, that makes 
        the property available for use and improvement under this Act 
        as community open space for a period of not less than 7 years.

SEC. 7. APPLICATION AND DEVELOPMENT PLAN.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary shall provide for nonprofit 
organizations to submit applications to the Secretary for grants under 
this Act in such form and manner as the Secretary may require to carry 
out the purposes of this Act.
    (b) Development Plan.--The Secretary shall require each application 
to include a detailed plan for the use of any amounts received from a 
grant under this Act, which shall include--
            (1) a description of any eligible municipal property that 
        is to be established as community open space using such grant 
        amounts;
            (2) evidence of the ownership of the eligible municipal 
        property and the binding commitment required under section 6(4) 
        for the property;
            (3) a description of the nonprofit organization applying 
        for the grant that is sufficient to allow the Secretary to 
        determine whether such organization is a qualified community 
        organization;
            (4) a description of the activities under section 5(a) to 
        be conducted with amounts from the grant;
            (5) evidence of any commitments to make assistance (other 
        than assistance under this Act) available for use in developing 
        or maintaining the community open space;
            (6) a description of the need for community open space in 
        the neighborhood or community in which the eligible municipal 
        property is located;
            (7) a description of how the nonprofit organization will 
        provide for the maintenance of the community open space;
            (8) a description of the community participation involved 
        (pursuant to section 5(c)) in establishing the plan, and the 
        provisions made (pursuant to such section) for community 
        participation in developing, maintaining, administering, and 
        managing the community open space;
            (9) a budget specifying all of the estimated costs relating 
        to the project to establish and maintain the community open 
        space; and
            (10) any other information the Secretary considers 
        appropriate to carry out this Act.

SEC. 8. SELECTION AND GRANT AGREEMENTS.

    (a) Selection.--From among the applications submitted under section 
7, the Secretary shall select qualified community organizations to 
receive grants under this Act pursuant to a competitive selection 
process. The Secretary shall review all applications received and may 
select only applications containing development plans that the 
Secretary approves as feasible and cost-effective pursuant to the 
competitive selection process.
    (b) Selection Criteria.--The competitive selection process referred 
to in subsection (a) shall be based upon selection criteria, which 
shall include--
            (1) the extent of community involvement in the 
        establishment, development, maintenance, administration, or 
        management of the community open space;
            (2) the extent of need for community open space in the 
        neighborhood or community in which the eligible municipal 
        property is located;
            (3) the extent to which the development plan for the 
        community open space limits administrative and management costs 
        relating to the community open space; and
            (4) the extent to which commitments have been made 
        providing assistance (other than assistance under this Act) for 
        use in establishing, developing, maintaining, administering, or 
        managing the community open space.
    (c) Grant Agreements.--The Secretary shall enter into agreements 
with each qualified community organization selected to receive a grant 
under this section as the Secretary considers necessary to ensure that 
amounts provided under the grant are used in accordance with the 
requirements of this Act to carry out the development plan approved 
under section 7 and any amendments to such plan approved under section 
9.

SEC. 9. AMENDMENTS TO DEVELOPMENT PLANS.

    The Secretary shall provide for recipients to submit amendments to 
development plans to the Secretary and for the Secretary to review, and 
approve or disapprove, such amendments.

SEC. 10. REPORTS.

    (a) Recipients.--The Secretary may require each recipient to submit 
to the Secretary such reports as the Secretary considers appropriate to 
determine whether the recipient is carrying out the development plan 
for any community open space for which the grant was made and is 
complying with the provisions of this Act and any agreements entered 
into under section 8(c).
    (b) Secretary.--The Secretary shall submit a report to the Congress 
not less than annually describing the grants made under this Act, the 
recipients of the grants, and the community open space provided with 
such grant amounts.

SEC. 11. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act, the following definitions shall apply:
            (1) Community open space.--The term ``community open 
        space'' means a parcel of real property that is used for open 
        space, park, playground, garden, or other recreational or other 
        similar purposes and is generally open to and available for use 
        by the public.
            (2) Nonprofit organization.--The term ``nonprofit 
        organization'' means a private organization that--
                    (A) is organized under State or local laws; and
                    (B) has no part of its net earnings inuring to the 
                benefit of any member, shareholder, founder, 
                contributor, or individual.
            (3) Qualified community organization.--The term ``qualified 
        community organization'' means a nonprofit organization that 
        complies with the requirements under section 4 to be eligible 
        to receive a grant under this Act.
            (4) Recipient.--The term ``recipient'' means a qualified 
        community organization that receives a grant under this Act.
            (5) Urban area.--The term ``urban area'' means--
                    (A) a city within a standard metropolitan 
                statistical area (as established by the Office of 
                Management and Budget) which is the central city of 
                such area (as defined and used by such Office); or
                    (B) a city within such a standard metropolitan 
                statistical area which has a population of 50,000 or 
                more.
            (6) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of Housing and Urban Development.
            (7) Unit of general local government.--The term ``unit of 
        general local government'' means any city, town, township, 
        county, parish, village, or other general purpose political 
        subdivision of a State.
            (8) State.--The term ``State'' means the States of the 
        United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 
        Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, 
        Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and any other 
        territory or possession of the United States.

SEC. 12. REGULATIONS.

    The Secretary shall issue any regulations necessary to carry out 
this Act.

SEC. 13. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated for grants under this Act 
$10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 and 2009.
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