8. What is a LAND BANK? Further comments

"Land bank" is a stupid name for a catalyst for revitalization. That's the misleading name applied to a government administrative procedure that can effect community revitalization, reinvigoration, restoration. ( If I were Johnny Cash, I would sing, " And if I ever have a son, I think I'm gonna name him... Bill or George! Anything but Sue.") But, "Land bank" is what the appellation is.

A land bank must conform to the provisions of Act 153 of 2012 (HB 1682), 68 Pa. CS. Sections 2101 et.seq. The authorizing ordinance for a land bank is reviewed by the Department of Community Affairs (DCED). DCED then has an annual audit oversight of a land bank. As the land bank is an entity with the authority to contract, the land bank's name is registered with the Department of State.

A land bank can sue and be sued in its own name and be a party in a civil action, including an action to clear title to a land bank. The land bank can enter into contracts and other instruments necessary, incidental or convenient to the performance of its duties and the exercise of its powers. A land bank can and should and might create a hierarchical ranking of priorities such as owner occupied houses, affordable housing, architectural preservation as part of rehabilitation, open public land, public space, conservation area, etc.

While land bank may borrow and issue bonds, a municipality can bootstrap a land bank. For example, a land bank can begin by purchasing all properties on a repository list by Judicial Sale with the timing, form and substance of the sales price to be set forth in a mutually satisfactory agreement between and among the City, the School district and the County.

In bootstrapping, funding of the land bank would come from sale proceeds or rental income. The City, school district and County could agree forego half of their real estate tax base that is restored through land bank revitalization as a funding stream for the land bank. Such a funding stream can not exceed five years under the law.

Back to the name, perhaps a better descriptive name could be “structure and  land revitalization bank.”