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North Bend explores Brownfield-focused land bank; staff to solicit board candidates after statute-required wording change
Summary
City staff briefed council on an enabling ordinance to form a Brownfield land bank to acquire and remediate contaminated or distressed properties for housing and economic development. A state statutory wrinkle requires initial board members and term lengths to be named in the ordinance; staff will solicit candidates and return a modified enabling ordinance for council action.
City Manager briefed the North Bend City Council on Oct. 27 on the city’s multi-year effort to create a land bank under state Brownfield enabling legislation to take contaminated or distressed properties off the city’s books and pursue remediation and housing reuse.
The manager said the land bank’s principal purpose is to remove liability from the city while leveraging state and federal Brownfield dollars, HUD and USDA funding streams, and technical assistance from the national land-bank organization. "The land bank was always designed to take the liability off of the city for contaminated properties and buildings," staff said, adding the land bank would be an independent governmental entity with its own board and insurance protections.
Staff reported a drafting complication in the enabling statute that requires the initial ordinance to list the names of the five board members and their term lengths. Councilors asked whether the land bank would hold title, whether seed money is required and how overlap with the urban-renewal agency (URA) would be handled. Staff said the land bank could acquire property from other entities, would have stipulations on property use focused on cleanup and housing, and would be autonomous while council would appoint board members.
Councilors expressed interest in moving forward and asked staff to advertise for candidates; staff said they will solicit names and return a modified enabling ordinance and appointment list for a special meeting. No final vote was taken at the work session.
