Haw. Rev. Stat. § 53-53

A redevelopment agency shall have all the powers necessary or convenient to undertake and carry out all 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 any other source, and to exercise the other powers which this chapter confers on an agency with respect to redevelopment projects. For the purposes of this part in connection with the planning and undertaking of any urban renewal plan or urban renewal project, the agency, the county, 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 part I of this chapter applicable to a redevelopment plan or redevelopment project were therein expressly made applicable to an urban renewal plan or urban renewal project; and for such purposes as used in part I and in this part elsewhere than in this section, except where the context clearly indicates such meaning to be inappropriate or as otherwise expressly provided in this section:

(1) The word "redevelopment" (elsewhere than in section 53-1) means "urban renewal";

(2) The word "slum" and the word "blighted" (elsewhere than in section 53-1) mean "blighted, deteriorated, or deteriorating";

provided (A) that nothing in this part shall be deemed to change the meaning of the terms "local redevelopment agency" or "agency," or the corporate name of any local redevelopment agency; and (B) that the finding by the council that the project area is a blighted area prescribed by section 53-6 shall not be required.

In addition to the surveys and plans which an agency otherwise may make, an agency may make (1) plans for carrying out a program of voluntary repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements, and (2) 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. The agency may develop, test, and report methods and techniques, and carry out demonstrations and other activities, for the prevention and the elimination of slums and other urban blight. [L 1955, c 271, pt of §1; RL 1955, §143-53; HRS §53-53; am L 1999, c 18, §2]