Editor’s Note: This is part one of a three part series exploring common questions about the Richland County Land Bank. Part two will publish Tuesday. Part three will publish Wednesday.
MANSFIELD — For years, a poster hung on the wall of the Richland County Land Bank’s office that posed two key questions:
If not us, who?
If not now, when?
That poster came down when the land bank moved into a temporary space amid renovations at the county building.
But the questions are still perhaps the best summary of the land bank’s mission.
The land bank’s purpose — in a nutshell — is to eliminate blight and facilitate development. That typically means taking ownership of properties no one else wants and helping get them back to a productive use.
But why does the land bank tear down old houses? Is it a private or public entity? Where does its funding come from? Why do people donate land to the land bank?
We did some research and sat down with Richland County Treasurer Bart Hamilton and land bank Executive Director Amy Hamrick to answer these questions and more.
What are land banks?
Municipal land banks have been around since the 1970s, according to the County Treasurers Association of Ohio. Ohio’s laws were updated to create county land banks amid the Great Recession and U.S. foreclosure crisis.
County land banks are community improvement corporations (CICs) under Ohio law. These quasi-governmental organizations provide communities with a way to take control of abandoned, distressed, unproductive and tax foreclosed properties, according to a 2019 report from the CTAO.
“In other words, if a property becomes delinquent, vacant and abandoned, and no one purchases the property at a tax foreclosure sheriff’s sale, at least the municipality can acquire it, bank it, and hopefully make future productive use of it,” the report states.
Since its inception, the land bank has taken possession of hundreds of properties and overseen hundreds demolitions and environmental cleanups.
Most of those demolitions have been blighted houses, but some have been former commercial and industrial properties like the Ocie Hill Neighborhood Center, Westinghouse and the Plymouth Hotel.
These demolitions are carried out using public grant dollars, typically from the state of Ohio.
Board chair Bart Hamilton said there’s a process the land bank has to go through before it can demolish a structure. There are legal notices and bid specifications to be issued. Properties have to be analyzed for asbestos and lead, with abatements to follow if toxins are found.
After the clean up is complete, the land bank maintains the property until a suitable end user is found.
Who runs the land bank?
The Richland County Land Reutilization Corporation, more commonly known as the Richland County Land Bank, was founded as a non-profit in November 2013.
The Richland County Land Bank operates with a small staff consisting of executive director Amy Hamrick, project manager Kerry Nelson and Greg Parman. The land bank contracts out its legal and accounting services.
Prior to joining the land bank, Hamrick worked for the city of Mansfield’s community development office administering the Moving Ohio Forward program, which used state funds to demolish blighted and abandoned homes.
The Richland County Land Bank is governed by a board of five public officials and four private citizens.
Under Ohio law, a county land bank board must include representatives from the county treasurer’s office, the county’s largest city and the county’s largest township, as well as two county commissioners.
Land bank boards can also include up to four selected members with experience relevant to the land bank’s work.
Elected officials on the Richland County Land Bank board currently include county treasurer Bart Hamilton, Madison Township Trustee Tom Craft, county commissioners Cliff Mears and Tony Vero and Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry.
Additional board members include Jotika Shetty of the Richland County Regional Planning Commission, Jerry Holden of The Holden Agency, city of Shelby Planning Coordinator Joe Gies and Jeff Parton of Park National Bank.
All land bank meetings are open to the public and accessible via Zoom. Meeting dates and minutes are available on the land bank’s website.