It's no secret that the city hosted a public meeting regarding land banks. They also hosted 3 other meetings regarding land banks. One for the school district, one for Meadville city council, and another for the RDA. It's not relevant to provide you with agenda's to prove as such, that's not the point of this post. So, what is the point? To dig into these, and provide some insight that may or may not have been heard or understood during these meetings. Our focus here is to simply provide you with the info, we'll leave it up to you to decide whether or not you agree or disagree with the idea.
A lot of the information is obtained from the following link;
What is a land bank?
VAD = Vacant and dilapidated. On the surface, this looks pretty good to start. But, we're just getting started. Where does this take us? What else can result from land banking? Community land trusts are one thing...
Land bank acquires property (we'll get into the logistics in a moment), then they can prioritize the transfer of a property to a CLT.
"Permanent community control of land and affordable housing". That bit could get sticky.
Time for the logistics bit.
Sounds well and good. But, where does the money come from to maintain the property?
50% of taxes they would be able to collect for the next 5 years? Is that all?
"Placing a lien against the property for the cost of maintaining it". That's intriguing.
Let's explore a CLT a little bit now, shall we?
What happens if the 2 of these things (Land Bank and CLT) were to partner?
Wait a minute, a 99 year land lease? So, you just own the structure. Does this mean that you don't have to maintain the land? How do taxes work exactly? If the CLT owns the land, and the rent is paid to them for said land, do they pay the taxes? We'll leave you to sit with that thought. Let's get back to talking about just land banks now.
These are all very valid point they make. But, is this really going to solve the issue?
This disclaimer, if you will, pops up quite frequently in all of the information.
-Strategic code enforcement
-Effective tax collection (Good thing Jaime and Larry aren't in charge of this, since they haven't paid their per capita taxes the prior 2 years.)
-Effective tax enforcement
All of these areas arguably, Meadville could do better in. What then are some challenges we may face with these land banks? How about funding?
Can a city already faced with a deficit establish a strong base of funding, or an ongoing revenue source? That is a good question. Maybe one we should ask council.
What else can we possibly do with these land bank properties?
Remember the Climate Action Plan we talked about a while ago?
"consider green development for blighted spaces", so more community gardens for overGrow Meadville? You see how this web is already being weaved from multiple angles? If you're getting whiplash trying to keep up, it's okay, you're not alone.
But, people are on board with these land banks it seems. Guys, that's part of the plan too.
Increase community buy-in...are we getting a timeshare or a land bank here? This feels like a sales pitch.
Let's say we buy-in to this, who is the end user?
Can anyone think of an existing non-profit in Meadville that goes around claiming they would like affordable housing for all? The Redevelopment Authority would help "administer" this program, right? Joe Tompkins is on the RDA, right? Joe Tompkins is also part of Common Roots, right?
We're are not assuming they would get priority of the properties, we are simply stating the convenience of involvement of players involved.
Are there any other community organizations that might come into play here? Maybe.
You think some of the same people are involved with this too? If you guessed yes, you were correct.
Again, we're just putting all the pieces on the table. It's up to every one of us to put this puzzle together and determine if all the pieces are going to the same puzzle. At this point, it's not enough for one blog to be asking questions and following connections. Especially with the recent news of a potential sunshine act violation by the Community engagement subcommittee coming out. It's time we start paying closer attention to all that is going on. For 4 of the council members running on a copy-cat campaign preaching transparency, we seem to be left in the dark more than in the light.
https://www.meadvilletribune.com/news/committees-impromptu-meeting-a-potential-sunshine-act-violation/article_b7965028-a177-11ec-8321-bb651427ef07.html
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