Land bank another tool in rehabilitating blighted properties
Since Butler County designated its Redevelopment Authority as its land bank manager in November 2020, it has acquired 38 parcels of land throughout the county.
Redevelopment Authority CEO Ed Mauk said the land bank gives municipalities another tool to mitigate blighted properties, because the land bank’s aim is to “recycle” real estate.
“At the end of the day, we are trying to take unproductive real estate and turn it into productive real estate,” Mauk said. “Whether that's getting them back on the tax rolls, generating tax revenue for the jurisdictions or utilizing that real estate for the best purpose that benefits the citizens of the county.”
The state’s Land Bank Legislation Act authorized the creation of land banks as a state entity in 2012. Mauk said Butler County received a $75,000 grant through the act, Act 137, to purchase properties meant to be rehabilitated.
Andrew Menchyk, solicitor for the Redevelopment Authority, said that to date, all of the land bank’s acquisition of properties have been by voluntary conveyance, mainly because they are tax delinquent, and some blighted. Through the land bank, tax delinquent properties can be rehabilitated to eventually be sold.
“We have blight mitigation through joint intergovernmental agreements with municipalities,” Menchyk said. “We demolish certain properties, and it enables the land bank to acquire these properties and clear taxes with the ultimate tactic to put them to use and circulation, and into the hands of taxpayers.”
Menchyk said a land bank can either be its own entity, a subentity with a housing or redevelopment authority with a separate board or a county can designate the redevelopment authority as a land bank authority, which is the case for Butler County.
Mauk said the land bank has acquired 25 properties in the Woodlands community in Connoquenessing Township. Through the land bank, the redevelopment authority can complete processes necessary to best rehabilitate land and turn property to what fits best.
“The intent is we acquire those properties in the Woodlands, and we are addressing the issue of taking them out of circulation,” Menchyk said. “When we get enough of them, we can stitch that patchwork together and ultimately resell those properties in a more sustainable commission where there is room for on-site sewage, water and some issues of infrastructure can be improved and mitigated.”
Martha Brown, director of grant management and resident services for the Redevelopment Authority, said municipalities have contacted her to assess properties.
“We have a close relationship with a lot of the municipalities around, and they will come to me and say, ‘We have these properties, would you like to look at them,’” Brown said. “It's typically if they have zoning or code, they are who contact me.”
Menchyk said once acquired by the land bank, a property can be rehabilitated into a public space, converted to affordable housing, made into a commercial or industrial space or designated for conservation.
However, the redevelopment authority has not yet sold any property acquired by the land bank, but Mauk said that will change in time, once its staff forms a plan for some of the interconnected properties. He said the availability of the land bank is a useful aspect to the mission of the housing authority and the redevelopment authority.
“You have to look at it through the whole gamut of what activities we do, because that's how we're looking at it,” Mauk said. “All of the tools, all of the processes are under one staff, one board, one mission, so it allows us the flexibility to use the tools for the best means possible.”
Menchyk also said properties rehabilitated through the land bank eventually will generate money for municipalities via tax revenue, so it could be a valuable resource in the coming years.
“We can't solve every problem, but I can guarantee you that there is not a municipality in this county that does not have blighted property,” Menchyk said.
