Land Banks
An Ohio land bank (land reutilization corporation) is a community improvement corporation organized under Chapters 1724 and 5722 of the Ohio Revised Code for the purposes of:
a) facilitating the reclamation, rehabilitation, and reutilization of vacant, abandoned, tax-foreclosed, or other real property within the county;
b) efficiently holding and managing vacant, abandoned, or tax-foreclosed real property pending its reclamation, rehabilitation, and reutilization;
c) assisting governmental entities and other nonprofit or for-profit persons to assemble, clear, and clear the title of property in a coordinated manner; or
d) promoting economic and housing development.
Land banks were created to replace systems generally comprised of the sale of tax liens or public tax auctions where local governments sell their interest in tax-delinquent property to speculators, often for pennies on the dollar. Land banks give communities the opportunity to repurpose abandoned properties in a manner consistent with the communities’ values and needs - demolishing unsalvageable homes and creating open green space or a community garden, restoring interesting buildings, or simply holding land in stewardship until a new purpose can be determined.
References
CHAPTER 81 COUNTY LAND UTILIZATION CORPORATIONS: LAND BANKS
Center for Community Progress
Founded in 2010, the Center for Community Progress is the only national 501(c)3 nonprofit organization solely dedicated to building a future in which entrenched, systemic blight no longer exists in American communities. The mission of Community Progress is to ensure that communities have the vision, knowledge, and systems to transform blighted, vacant, and other problem properties into assets supporting neighborhood vitality.
Land Bank Information Headquarter
http://www.communityprogress.net/land-bank-headquarters-pages-446.php
Community Progress is proud to be at the forefront of the national land bank movement. Since the organization’s founding in 2010, we have:
-
Helped design and supported successful efforts to pass state enabling legislation and legislative reforms for land banking in nine states
-
Provided direct assistance to the leadership of more than 70 land banks around the country
Publications
GREATER OHIO POLICY CENTER
Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC), a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Columbus and operating statewide, develops and advances policies and practices that value our urban cores and metropolitan regions as economic drivers and preserve Ohio’s open space and farmland. Through education, research and outreach, GOPC strives to create a political and policy climate receptive to new economic and governmental structures that advance sustainable development and economic growth.
The Greater Ohio Policy Center’s latest report, “Taking Stock of Ohio County Land Banks: Current Practices and Promising Strategies,” utilizes interviews, conference presentations, media coverage, and land bank documents to assess the current state of land banking in Ohio. Through its research, GOPC places land banks in the larger context of community revitalization and highlights promising county land bank programs that have the potential to greatly contribute to sustainable economic and community redevelopment throughout Ohio.
WESTERN RESERVE LAND CONSERVANCY
In 2006, Western Reserve Land Conservancy was created by the largest-ever merger of land trusts in the United States. Eight northern Ohio land trusts — two of which were themselves the product of mergers — voluntarily joined forces to form a private, nonprofit conservation organization for a region that stretches from Sandusky Bay to the Pennsylvania border and from Lake Erie to Wayne County. Four years later, the Land Conservancy grew again by merging with Grand River Partners. And at the start of 2013, two more conservation groups joined us — the Waite Hill Land Conservancy and the Little Beaver Creek Land foundation. Today, Western Reserve Land Conservancy is the result of the mergers of 13 organizations. With the Little Beaver Creek Land Foundation merger, the Land Conservancy expanded from its footprint from 14 to 17 counties, adding Columbiana, Jefferson and Carroll. In addition, the Land Conservancy in 2011 formed Thriving Communities Institute, a program designed to revitalize Ohio’s urban centers. This program, headed by Jim Rokakis, helped establish county land banks throughout Ohio and secured millions in demolition funding for communities around the state.
Land Bank Playbook
Provided by Thriving Communities Institute of Western Reserve Land Conservancy. We have designed this comprehensive guide to be a resource for those who are planning, establishing, or operating a Land Reutilization Corporation in Ohio. The Playbook contains proven guidelines and best practices, as well as important forms and reference materials.
Ohio Land Bank List
We maintain a list of Ohio counties with existing land banks and provide contact information for each land bank and its board members.
Brownfields and Land Revitalization Technology Support Center
The Brownfields and Land Revitalization Technology Support Center (BTSC, formerly the Brownfields Technology Support Center) is a cooperative effort to provide technical support to federal, state, local, and tribal officials for questions related to the use of innovative technologies and strategies for site assessment and cleanup.
EPA created the BTSC in 1998 to help decision-makers:
-
Evaluate strategies to streamline the site investigation and cleanup process
-
Identify and review information about complex technology options
-
Evaluate contractor capabilities and recommendations
-
Explain complex technologies to communities
Partners in the BTSC include the EPA’s Office of Research and Development; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; and Argonne National Laboratory. As a Center partner, EPA’s Brownfields Program helps to identify support needed by EPA’s Brownfields Program participants.
Council of Development Finance Agencies
The Council of Development Finance Agencies is a national association dedicated to the advancement of development finance concerns and interests. CDFA is comprised of the nation’s leading and most knowledgeable members of the development finance community representing 300 public, private and non-profit development entities. Members are state, county and municipal development finance agencies and authorities that provide or otherwise support economic development financing programs, including tax-exempt and taxable bonds, credit enhancement programs, and direct debt and equity investments as well as a variety of non-governmental and private organizations ranging from regional and large investment banks to commercial finance companies to bond counsel, bond insurers, trustees, venture capital companies, rating agencies, and other organizations interested in development finance.
The CDFA Brownfields Technical Assistance Program is funded by a grant from the U.S. EPA to provide assistance to communities throughout the country that are looking to finance the redevelopment of brownfield sites. CDFA will provide education, resources, research and networking on revolving loan funds, tax incentives, tax increment finance and other tools available for redevelopment finance.
Specific program activities fall into the following categories:
- Brownfields Financing Update
- Brownfields Financing Resource Center
- Brownfields Financing Toolkit
- Brownfields Financing Webinar Series
- Brownfields Project Marketplace
- Brownfields Project Response Teams
Local Initiatives Support Corporation
For almost three decades, LISC has connected local organizations and community leaders with resources to revitalize neighborhoods and improve quality of life. The LISC model assembles private and public resources and directs it to locally-defined priorities. Our unique structure enables local organizations to access national resources and expertise and our funding partners to leverage their investment and achieve an impact that is truly remarkable.
The Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is dedicated to helping community residents transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy and sustainable communities of choice and opportunity — good places to work, do business and raise children. LISC mobilizes corporate, government and philanthropic support to provide local community development organizations with:
-
loans, grants and equity investments
-
local, statewide and national policy support
-
technical and management assistance
Ohio Rural Community Assistance Partnership
The Ohio Rural Community Assistance Program (RCAP) provides consulting services to help rural communities address their drinking water and wastewater treatment needs. Each year, we serve well over 100 communities in Ohio and leverage millions of dollars for water and sewer projects. Our field agents assist communities with project development and capacity building. Ohio RCAP is part of the Great Lakes RCAP network, and receives funding from a number of federal programs as well as Ohio EPA and the Ohio Water Development Authority to provide technical assistance to communities under 10,000 population. Many of our client communities serve only a few hundred people, or are rural areas in need of public water or sewer service.
Partnership for Sustainable Communities
On June 16, 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) joined together to help communities nationwide improve access to affordable housing, increase transportation options, and lower transportation costs while protecting the environment.
The Partnership for Sustainable Communities works to coordinate federal housing, transportation, water, and other infrastructure investments to make neighborhoods more prosperous, allow people to live closer to jobs, save households time and money, and reduce pollution. The partnership agencies incorporate six principles of livability into federal funding programs, policies, and future legislative proposals.
TAB Program
TAB provides free technical assistance with brownfields redevelopment efforts. TAB Brownfields workshops, webinars and online training are FREE and designed to help you:
-
gain a better understanding of what a Brownfield is,
-
learn how Brownfield revitalization can be a part of your community’s economic development strategy,
-
and hear from local, state and national leaders on resources available to your community.
KSU TAB provides a variety of resurces that are useful to people who are cleaning up and redeveloping brownfields. Most materials used for KSU TAB workshops, webinars, online courses and presentations can be downloaded from the Resources tab.
The Brownfield Inventory Tool (BIT) is a FREE, online, comprehensive site inventory and brownfields program management tool. BIT was designed especially for users working under an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cooperative agreement, but any entity working on establishing a site inventory database will find BIT useful in consolidating environmental and administrative information from sites in multiple programs.
TAB EZ is a FREE online tool intended to streamline and simplify the grant writing process when applying for EPA brownfields assessment and cleanup grants. TAB EZ is very user friendly, offers helpful hints for addressing proposal requirements, and links to additional resources.