Using Municipal Land Banks for Urban Renewal: Structuring and Financing Land Banks, Partnering With Land Trusts

Land banks can be an effective tool for municipalities to return vacant and abandoned properties to productive use by acquiring distressed properties and reselling, redeveloping or demolishing them. Approaches to combating vacancy and abandonment will vary depending on the unique local and state legal frameworks.

Generally, municipalities need state enabling statutes to grant them authority to establish land banks. Local code enforcement authority and state foreclosure law are some of the key legal issues involved in evaluating and implementing land banks.

In addition to establishing a land bank and setting out the governance mechanisms, the acquisition and disposition process, and community engagement strategies, financing sources for land bank activities must be considered.

Land banks can often be employed in partnership with a nonprofit land trust to not only return vacant property to productive use but to redevelop neighborhoods equitably without displacing lower-income residents.

Listen as our authoritative panel of municipal attorneys discusses use of land banks for revitalization of vacant, abandoned and blighted property. The program will discuss current trends in municipal use of land banks, structuring and implementing land banks, financing mechanisms for land bank activities, and partnering with nonprofit community land trusts.

1. Economic, demographic and legal forces impacting problem properties and obstacles to resolution
2. Establishing a land bank (governance, acquisition, disposition, blight elimination, and community engagement)
3. State enabling statutes vs. local code enforcement authority
4. Creating and operating a land bank without state enabling legislation
5. Partnering with community land trusts
6. Financing for funding of land bank activities

The panel will review these and other key issues:

• What are the legal issues that present challenges to the creation and use of land banks?
• What are the common structures and governance mechanisms for land banks?
• What are the benefits of using land banks in tandem with partnerships with nonprofit land trusts?
• What are the most common sources for financing land bank activities?