The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners approved a substitute resolution on Oct. 14 to transfer 26 county-owned vacant parcels to the DeKalb Regional Land Bank Authority for disposition and redevelopment.

Alan Mitchell, director of the county office that works with the land bank, told commissioners the list includes both vacant lots and five parcels with existing structures. The land bank's asset manager had surveyed properties and recommended a group of parcels that staff judged to be viable for rehabilitation or sale to produce affordable housing and to remove blight. Mitchell said the land bank retains a portion of administrative revenues when properties return to the tax rolls, and that the primary objective is to get these parcels back on the tax rolls and into productive reuse.

Commissioners discussed the geographic distribution: the board noted that a plurality of the identified parcels are in District 3, and staff said the selection was based on asset-manager survey and GIS review rather than district targeting. Commissioner Terry and others praised the transfer as a tool to convert idle county-owned property to housing and to send parcels back onto the tax roll.

The board approved the substitute resolution by standard motion and vote. According to staff, the land bank will begin title work, marketing or rehabilitation planning, and will follow its bylaws and intergovernmental agreements for sales or conveyances.