"Land Bank Plan Will Help City Clear Out Unwanted Buildings"

Editorial: Land bank plan will help city clear out unwanted buildings
December 01, 2008 @ 08:20 PM
The Herald-Dispatch

Huntington Mayor-elect Kim Wolfe says he plans to have an ordinance to establish the city's land bank program ready for City Council's consideration within a month after he takes office.
That's good news because a land bank could be one of the best tools Huntington will have in combating the problem of dilapidated and deteriorating buildings.

Under the proposal, the city would be allowed to purchase all of the tax liens within city limits at the county's annual tax sale. Rather than an out-of-state real estate investor collecting interest on the property, that money would go to the city. The city would use the interest money to board up the property, cut the grass or demolish the property if it is on the city's unsafe buildings list.

"That's the immediate impact of the program," Charles Holley, the city's director of development and planning, told The Herald-Dispatch reporter Bryan Chambers. "Once we buy the tax lien at the sale, we will infuse resources to clean up the property and make it look as respectable as possible."

The city then would place a lien on the property for the costs it incurred to clean it up, said Tom Bell, who will be a member of Wolfe's administration in a role that has yet to be announced. The county would not allow the owner to redeem the property until the taxes and the city's lien are paid, he said. If the owner chose not to redeem the property at the end of the 18-month period, the city would turn it over to the land bank authority, Holley said.

The only drawback to the proposal is the two-and-a-half years it would take for the first pieces of dilapidated property to fall under control of the land bank authority. The next tax lien sale is a year away. And property owners would have 18 months after the sale to redeem their property from the city, just as they do now with the county.

A person can drive around most neighborhoods in Huntington and find old houses and other buildings that need to come down. West Virginia's laws operate in ways that allow property owners to hold on to such properties for up to five years after they have stopped paying taxes on them.

The land bank accelerates that process. Once it is funded and starts operating, city residents should see results in less than three years. Among other things, the city could assemble properties and make them available for residential or commercial development. Or the city could become a player in larger projects, such as a new baseball field for Marshall University.

This is an opportunity the city has wanted. Now it's time for the incoming City Council to get on board and help establish and fund this program that is vital to the city's future.