The community I am working in is in the final stages of adopting an Urban Renewal Plan, and the community will be voting on the Plan in September. A project of mine is to research other agencies and see their administrative rules, how they function etc...so if anyone knows anything about them or can point to me in the right direction to learn more I would appreciate it.
Renewal/redevelopment authorities are typically enabled by state legislation that establishes pretty explicit rules about their organization: board/committee appointments, funding sources, rules for meetings, limits of authority, etc. Because of this, there really isn't too much variation within states.
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I would look at the Urban Development Corporations in the UK, both the 1980's and the new version of them. They are primary at-arms-length corporations with specific rules and regulations imposed from the central govt.
The London Dockland Development Corporation is the most widely know UDC of the 1980's and can a review of their policies, programmes etc etc can be found at www.lddc-history.org.uk,
Also, there are a number of Urban Regeneration companies/projects in the UK that could provide a usefull insight.
One big difference involves how autonomous the authority really is from the municipality. In some places, where the redevelopment authority has access to its own funds and staff, they kind of do their own thing, coordinating with the city when needed. In other places, they have no money and basically operate like any other city board that makes decisions but relies on city staff for support. In those cases they are less powerful but can be a key part of implementing urban planning efforts due to the streamlined eminent domain ability.
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