Following the examples of Saginaw, Genesee and Sanilac counties, Bay County has established its own land bank aimed at buying foreclosed properties for sale.
The land bank would target lands foreclosed by banks and lands acquired by local governments due to tax foreclosures.
The Bay County Board of Commissioners has sent its land bank application to Michigan's land bank authority and will meet with state officials for the approval of an intergovernmental agreement related to the land bank.
County officials will also set up a seven-member board to lead Bay County's land bank, which will comprise county commissioners, Bay City officials, town officials and residents.
Officials said they have not made plans yet about what they will do with the foreclosed lands to be acquired. They said that once they have set up the land bank, they will have enough time to make plans.
Bay County official Richard Brzezinski said that in the past, only large counties were forming land banks but because of the rising number of bank and tax foreclosure properties, even smaller counties can benefit from forming land banks.
Funding from the federal government also encouraged the county to form the land bank, according to Brzezinski. Among the goals of the federal stimulus money given to various communities was to maximize the use of foreclosed properties and eliminate blight from communities.
Thomas Hickner, top executive of Bay County, said he hopes his county's land bank can get a share from the funds to be distributed in the coming months by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. In 2008, counties with land banks got between $10 million to $20 million from the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
Genesee County and other Michigan counties which have been operating land banks for years said land banks have been helping their counties fight blight in communities clobbered by a lot of foreclosure properties and abandoned structures.
According to Hickner, Bay County has around 800 to 1,000 bank foreclosure properties.
In Saginaw County, one of the programs of the land bank authority leases abandoned properties for one dollar a year to the neighbors of the abandoned lands. These neighbors agree to use the lands and maintain them.
With the launching of the Bay County land bank, community advocates hope that abandoned tax and bank foreclosure properties will now be acquired and fixed or sold to local investors with redevelopment plans that help the community.
John Cutts has been educated in the finer points of the foreclosure market over 5 years.
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