Seneca County hears land bank housing plan; backs Ovid redevelopment and infrastructure grant resolutions

The Seneca County Board of Supervisors on March 11 heard an annual presentation from the Finger Lakes Regional Land Bank Corporation on efforts to convert vacant, tax‑foreclosed properties into housing and voted to approve several redevelopment and infrastructure grant actions supporting projects in Ovid, Willard and Waterloo.

The land bank presentation described a two‑track housing pipeline: a seven‑unit affordable housing package to be transferred to Seneca Housing and a separate permanent supportive housing package to be developed with FLACRA. The board also approved a set of resolutions to help the projects proceed, including backing a county infrastructure grant application and authorizing easements for a village interconnect.

The land bank’s mission, the presentation said, is to “identify, improve, and redistribute vacant, blighted and tax‑abandoned properties to eliminate the harms and liabilities caused by such properties and return them to productive use,” and the agency outlined work completed so the sites reach a “shovel‑ready” standard. Jill Henry, of the Finger Lakes Regional Land Bank Corporation, told supervisors the land bank and partners have done demolition, design work, environmental site assessments and cost estimates so projects can move quickly if state funding is awarded.

Henry said one package—supported in part by $500,000 from the Seneca County Housing Trust Fund (ARPA money)—covers two sites: a three‑unit project in Willard (Pleasant Street) and a four‑unit townhouse‑style project on West Seneca Street in Ovid, a site close to the former Big M grocery. “When…