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Regional land bank reports 14 properties, asks counties to consider operating support
Summary
SIDC / Upland Regional Land Bank representatives told commissioners they now own 14 properties, have multiple renovation contracts and used $1.2 million in Ready funding; they asked counties to consider ongoing operating support (estimate: roughly $50,000 across the region) once Ready funds end.
Representatives of the SIDC and the Upland Regional Land Bank updated commissioners on the group’s two-and-a-half-year effort to acquire and rehabilitate distressed properties across a six-county region.
Greg Jones and Bobby Ael said the land bank now owns 14 properties, has three properties under renovation contracts and is managing properties in the tax-sale process. The land bank used Ready program funding of about $1.2 million, which reduced county contributions to roughly $5,000 a year per county. Jones said the land bank has paid local contractors about $73,000 to date, spent $43,000 on demolition so far, and plans to expend another $115,000 by September.
"Of all the properties that have been acquired, their assessed value is around $560,000," Jones told the board. He estimated that once rehabilitated and returned to the tax rolls the properties could generate about $3.675 million in assessed value for the region. He also said turnaround times vary widely and that typical acquisitions can take 9 to 18 months to clear title and proceed to redevelopment.
Jones raised a recurring challenge in Orange County: he said LLCs and investor groups are outbidding community actors at tax sales to collect interest rather than rehabilitate properties. "They're buying them in order to... recoup pay their taxes on the property and then they will get paid a 10% interest off of that process," Jones said, calling it "a loophole in the system" that may require legislative attention.
The presenters asked commissioners to consider future operating support for the land bank after Ready funding ends (September). They described a possible regional contribution in the order of tens of thousands of dollars to keep the organization operating and to continue catalyst projects that encourage neighborhood cleanup and private investment.
Commissioners thanked the presenters and acknowledged the land bank’s role clearing and remediating sites and acting as a conduit for economic development in the region.
