Redevelopment authority asks Southeast Delco to join county Land Bank to acquire vacant, tax‑delinquent properties

Laura Goodrich Kearns, executive director of the Delaware County Redevelopment Authority and the county Land Bank, told the Southeast Delco School District Committee of the Whole on April 16 that the Land Bank can help municipalities and taxing authorities address vacant, blighted and contaminated properties by acquiring them ahead of judicial tax sales and repositioning them for productive reuse.

Kearns said the Land Bank focuses only on vacant properties and not on occupied homes. “I just really wanna stress the vacant portion of that. There is 0 interest, madam president, in going after any occupied property,” she said. She described the Land Bank’s ability to pre‑negotiate with the county treasurer to take properties out of an auction process and acquire them for negotiated prices rather than bidding at judicial sales.

The proposal on the table would ask participating taxing authorities, including the district, to share 50 percent of tax revenue from a property for five years after it is returned to tax‑paying use. Kearns said that split is intended to give the Land Bank a revenue stream to sustain future work; she described examples in which municipalities were priced out of judicial sales and in one case a property with $10,000 in back taxes sold for $140,000 at auction.

Board members raised questions about what joining the Land Bank would mean for the district’s tax liens and revenue. Kearns explained the mechanism: properties that have gone unpaid for four years can appear on the county’s judicial sale list; the Land Bank can acquire a parcel before auction by negotiating with the treasurer, but the school district and other taxing authorities may receive less than the full outstanding lien amount in a negotiated acquisition or at auction. She said the Land Bank’s goal is to reposition properties to return them to productive use — for example, as owner‑occupied housing or green space — and to work with the municipality on zoning and project partners.

Several board members pressed for safeguards. They asked whether the agreement could include a termination or revisit clause, how buyer eligibility would be vetted, and whether the agreement could be limited to specific municipalities. Kearns said the intergovernmental cooperation agreement and a board resolution would list the municipalities that join; she also said the Land Bank prefers to work with local buyers and can include vetting or preference language, though she noted she had been advised limiting ownership to county residents would raise constitutional issues.

Kearns emphasized a time urgency: a judicial sale list is compiled in May, and the Land Bank would need an agreement with the district to act on several Sharon Hill parcels that may be on that list. Board members asked staff to obtain an updated agreement with a termination clause and all supporting documentation before placing the item on the agenda for a potential vote.

The committee did not take a vote at the meeting. President Barley and others agreed to have staff and the district solicitor coordinate with the Land Bank’s solicitor to revise the agreement and return it to the board for consideration at an upcoming meeting.

Ending: The board asked staff to bring back an updated intergovernmental agreement with a termination clause and supporting documentation so members can consider whether to authorize the district to join the county Land Bank and enable the authority to acquire specified judicial‑sale properties on the district’s behalf.