MANSFIELD — Bart Hamilton said Tuesday the Richland County Land Bank probably doesn’t do enough in terms of telling the public the valuable work it does.
“It’s probably a little bit of our own fault,” the Land Bank board chair said after a ribbon was cut to officially open its new offices on the first floor of the county courthouse.
“A lot of organizations want to go out and beat their own drum and all. We’re not big drum beaters. We’d like to just kind of get work done and keep moving,” said Hamilton, also the Richland County treasurer.
“I’ll take some blame for maybe people not knowing exactly what we do. I suppose I should be out doing more of the, ‘Hey, it’s what we do.'”
The ribbon-cutting Tuesday afternoon was to show the public the renovated first floor of the five-story courthouse, i.e. “L1.”
The project created new offices for the Land Bank, new spaces for Richland County Adult Court Services/Probation a new employee break room and an employee workout room.
What is a county land bank?
- Land banks first emerged in the 1970’s as an urban planning tool. Over the past two decades, land banking has become an increasingly important tool for cities challenged by vacant and abandoned properties.
- Many urban industrial centers throughout the nation were built for populations that simply were either never achieved or that were abandoned due to sprawl.
- 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.
- The Ohio land banking legislation has become a model for other states.
- County land banks are nonprofit organizations whose mission 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.
- While each county land bank is somewhat different, customized to the unique needs of the community it serves, land banks typically have three main functions.
- Acquire and consolidate (or aggregate) vacant parcels through purchases, donations, or intergovernmental transfer from public foreclosure proceedings.
- Clear title to land and prepare parcels for transfer to a responsible third party for redevelopment or reuse.
- Prioritize land for disposition or reuse, selling land for redevelopment to a responsible third party.
The success of Ohio’s first land bank in Cuyahoga County led to subsequent legislation expanding eligibility first to all counties with populations over 60,000 and later to all counties in the state.
— Source: OhioLandBanks.org
It’s part of a larger, four-year, $5.3-million renovation that has become the biggest remodeling project in the history of the 58-year-old Richland County courthouse.
The building at 50 Park Ave. East also has a new Clerk of Courts office, a fourth Common Pleas Court, remodeled bathrooms on all five floors and new commons areas.
Hamilton said the Land Bank has come a long way from its launch 12 years ago when it primarily was now-Executive Director Amy Hamrick, a desk and a chair in a cubicle outside his treasurer’s office.
“An awful long way,” he said. “I mean, we were nothing.”
Hamilton said local media has done stories about Land Bank efforts over the years.
“I mean, it’s been out there. But like anything else, you know, people are busy and they got things to do … until the (dilapidated) house gets torn down beside them … then they’re like, ‘What happened there? How did that happen?'” he said.
The local Land Bank began as an effort to demolish old houses and structures in a real estate market where they no longer had value.
“It got so bad on in my other job as the county treasurer … it got so bad that we actually stopped sheriff’s sales because nobody was buying them.
“That’s pretty scary when you go to a sheriff’s sale and you have some investors there and they’re afraid (to buy it). That’s how bad it was,” Hamilton said.
Tearing down the old structures and converting the lot to green space has allowed for new development to take place.
More than 1,100 parcels have been transferred back to private ownership, according to Hamilton.
In addition to demolishing hundreds of old houses in Mansfield and around the county, the Land Bank has also changed as additional state funding became available. It has gotten involved in bigger projects, such as the former Westinghouse site in Mansfield.
“We’ve adapted as the funding has changed and there has been big funding for things like Westinghouse and some of these larger projects,” he said.
The Land Bank has also been able to secure $1.3 million in state funds to assist homeowners in lead remediation projects.
That’s part of the more than $17 million in grants the Land Bank has acquired since its inception.
“We’re going to get more for that,” Hamilton said. “We’re going to get some leftover money that other people didn’t spend. (The state) wants us to spend it beause we did a good job with it.”
Thinking back to the state, Hamilton said he is most proud of the collaborative projects the Land Bank has helped.
“I think back to the Plymouth Hotel when it collapsed in the road. Plymouth is a community that doesn’t have a lot of money and we were able to take care of that.
“I think about Shelby when the pizza joint collapsed in the road. We were able to help and we were able to take care of that,” Hamilton said.
“Without a county Land Bank, I don’t know what those communities were going to do. Those are the things I’m proud of … just being able to to fill that role when there just wasn’t anyone.”
(Below are photos from a ribbon cutting and open house at the newly renovated “L1” at the Richland County Courthouse on Tuesday afternoon.)
