Section 3 of the bill prohibits any area that has been designated as an urban renewal area from containing any agricultural land unless:
 

·         The agricultural land is a brownfield site as designated by the United States environmental protection agency;

·         The area containing the agricultural land is at least two-thirds contiguous with urban-level development and at least one-half of the area consists of urban-level development that is determined to constitute a slum or blighted area;

·         The agricultural land is an enclave within the territorial boundaries of a municipality and the entire perimeter of the enclave has been contiguous with urban-level development for a period of not less than 3 years;

·         Each public body that levies an ad valorem property tax on the agricultural land agrees in writing to the inclusion of the agricultural land within the urban renewal area; or

·         The agricultural land was included in an approved urban renewal plan prior to the effective date of the bill.

In addition, section 3 of the bill:
 

·         Where agricultural land is included within an urban renewal area under the conditions specified in the bill, requires the county assessor to value the agricultural land at its fair market value solely for determining the base amount of taxes to be paid to the public bodies without consideration of the tax increment. Nothing in the bill affects the actual classification of agricultural land for property tax purposes.

·         Expands the grounds allowing counties to challenge information contained in urban renewal impact reports.

·         Permits the required agreement to be entered into by or among the municipality and urban renewal authority and county taxing entities in the case of tax increment financing to provide for a waiver of certain requirements under the urban renewal law.

 

Section 4 of the bill requires urban renewal plans to include a legal description of the urban renewal area, including the legal description of any agricultural land proposed for inclusion within the urban renewal area pursuant to the conditions specified in the bill.

Section 5 of the bill provides that, not later than 30 days after the municipality has provided the county assessor notice that the urban renewal plan contains tax increment financing provisions, the assessor may provide written notice to the municipality if the assessor believes that agricultural land has been improperly included in the urban renewal area under the conditions specified in the bill. If the notice is not delivered within the 30-day period, the inclusion of the land in the urban renewal area as described in the urban renewal plan shall be incontestable in any suit or proceeding notwithstanding the presence of any cause. If the assessor provides written notice to the municipality within the 30-day period, the municipality may file an action in state district court for an order determining whether the inclusion of the land in the urban renewal area is consistent with one of the conditions specified in the bill and shall have an additional 30 days from the date it receives the notice in which to file the action. If the municipality fails to file such an action within the additional 30-day period, the urban renewal area shall not include the agricultural land.