Richland County treasurer Bart Hamilton asked commissioners Ed Olson, Gary Utt, and Tim Wert to pass a resolution on Thursday to establish a county land bank. The resolution directed him to send the articles of incorporation to Columbus to begin the process of incorporating a land reutilization corporation. The commissioners passed the resolution.
“The concept of a land bank is grossly misunderstood in certain circles,” stated Olson, “I’d like you to put on the record that we’re not going out confiscating property. In fact, we’re not even going to acquire property unless we have actually identified a buyer. The county is not in the business of owning real estate.”
Hamilton clarified the concern, stating, “We’re going to be in the business of foreclosing on vacant, abandoned properties and conveying those properties to someone. That’s kind of my job as the county treasurer anyway; and as a couple of examples of that, right now you’re seeing the Ritter building being renovated for the Richland County Foundation. That was one of our foreclosures. The Fitness Factory that’s downtown was one of our foreclosures.”
Hamilton said that in the past residents have wanted to donate property to the county for various reasons, but the county did not have the infrastructure to accept the properties or dispose of them.
“We had no way to clean the title to then convey them to someone else. That, I think, is one of the most important parts of this land bank. There’s going to be a way for a person to convey the property through the land bank,” he said.
Wert added, “Our goal is to bring it to where it’s tax-paid, not give it to a nonprofit or park system. It’s for a private sector, tax-paying individual to move this property forward.”
Olson explained that a land bank will “greatly compress the timeline to get the land back into productive private sector hands.” Hamilton added that it will also save the county money and give the community access to state funding that will facilitate demolitions.
Olson said the land bank would be funded through collection of penalty charges when residents do not pay their property taxes. There are also interest charges added later. Those funds will benefit the land bank. It is not an additional tax. He suggested setting up a separate fund to create a paper trail and Hamilton explained that recent legislation will facilitate the movement of funds.
“All of us, whether we come from a city or township, have had residents ask us all along, Why can’t you do something about that property next door that’s been like that for 10 years. This will help that out,” said Utt.
A board will be established to govern the land bank in accordance with state statutes. The board will consist of two of the commissioners, Mansfield Mayor Tim Theaker as the mayor of the largest municipality, Bart Hamilton as the county treasurer, and a representative from the largest township. The board can include up to nine representatives.
Mansfield Mayor Tim Theaker was at the meeting and lent his support and agreed to serve on the land bank board. Richland Bank President and Richland County Development Group (RCDG) Chairman John Brown was also in attendance at the meeting.
Olson asked Brown for his input from his understanding of foreclosures, recognizing that a mortgage foreclosure differs from a tax foreclosure.
“I strongly support this, both from the bank and RCDG standpoint, to establish this land bank,” said Brown, “One of the things that speeding up this process and getting these properties back to tax utilization will do is to provide a bottom that our communities greatly need for real estate values. Until we address some of these abandoned properties, whether it’s through tax foreclosure or mortgage foreclosure, we’re not going to start seeing real estate values appreciate.”
He added, “There’s also legislation in process in Columbus to help banks speed up their mortgage foreclosure of abandoned properties. No bank has any interest in kicking anyone out on the street, but so often these are abandoned properties and they’re sources of crimes. They’re sources of drug problems. They’re sources of people coming in and vandalizing and taking out the copper. So I applaud the efforts and this will go a long way in establishing a bottom and seeing real estate values go back up in Richland County.”
See RCDG statement at left.
“The concept of a land bank is grossly misunderstood in certain circles,” stated Ed Olson, “I’d like you to put on the record that we’re not going out confiscating property.”
