WILMINGTON — Local land bank officials hope to accomplish 17 demolitions of blighted, abandoned residential properties in Clinton County by mid-November.
A local land bank was established in 2016, and afterward the Ohio Housing Finance Agency awarded it up to $1 million to clean up blighted residential properties, clearing the way for the land to be re-utilized.
Examples of properties already owned by the land bank — formally called the Clinton County Land Re-utilization Corporation — are 118 Orchard View Lane, Blanchester; 51 Michigan Avenue in Wilmington; 473 Belmont Avenue in Wilmington; and 111 Cuba Avenue, Midland.
The structures on those properties are on the list to come down, said Clinton County Regional Planning Commission (RPC) Executive Director Taylor Stuckert, who’s been contracted to do work for the land bank.
The demolition dollars that a land bank applies for come from the Hardest Hit Fund, first created in February 2010. The Hardest Hit Fund has provided billions to 18 states and the District of Columbia hit hardest by the economic and housing market downturn. The funds originate with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and were awarded to states as part of the Hardest Hit Fund program.
The county’s RPC called upon local mayors, building and zoning departments, township trustees and others to create an inventory of blighted properties. A land bank addresses vacant, abandoned properties and tax-delinquent properties.
A land bank is capable of removing tax liens on a property, and then sell it to a new property owner.
One example of a potential buyer: Neighbors interested in obtaining side lots, thereby growing their land and property value, too.
Land banks first emerged in the 1960s as an urban planning tool, according to a brief history on the Western Reserve Land Conservancy website.
In Ohio, a new form of land bank was established in 2008 when state legislators passed a bill allowing Cuyahoga County commissioners to create the first modern land bank, states the history article.
The same website article states the mission of county land banks, in general, is “to strategically acquire properties, and return them to productive use, reducing blight, increasing property values, supporting community goals, and improving the quality of life for county residents.”
Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.
