Moundsville City Officials Moving Forward With Land Bank Creation
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Moundsville city officials are moving forward internally to secure a part-time employee to run a proposed land bank in the city to address dilapidated and abandoned housing in the area.
During Tuesday's Moundsville City Council Policy Subcommittee meeting, City Manager Rick Healy said the goal of finding a part-time employee to run the land bank was "moving in the right direction" for the position to be included in next year's city budget.
City council members' discussions about creating a land bank began during the Aug. 13 policy subcommittee meeting. During the meeting, city officials and council members agreed the city would need to hire at least one employee to run the land bank.
On Tuesday, Healy said the land bank employee would initially work 15 to 20 hours a week to get the land bank started.
"It's going to be a long way to get it done, so we will ask that the land bank be tabled," Healy said. "We don't want it to fall off the agenda, so we want to talk about the position at every committee meeting until we feel ready to go forward with it."
In the meantime, Healy said discussions would continue with the potential employee they've met with, so the arrangement is "going to be perfect for all of us."
City Attorney Thomas White said that before hiring someone, city officials and council members should discuss what the position would entail and what the land bank would do.
Mayor Sara Wood-Shaw responded the land bank would give the city authority to purchase properties at the tax sale or redeem them if they had liens. She noted that currently if a building goes to tax sale, the liens can be bought by another party, which results in the city losing the liens.
"Many out-of-state companies will purchase these properties and either sit on them or if they're empty, they won't do anything with them," Wood-Shaw described. "They sit on the dilapidated property and do not fix it up."
Wood-Shaw outlined the land bank would give the city the next right of refusal for properties after the neighbor to the property.
White questioned whether this was already in place for the city and whether a land bank was needed.
Wood-Shaw responded the city does not have the capacity to manage the process of marketing and selling properties. She noted the city has secured numerous grants to tear down dilapidated properties over the past couple of years, but has no one to "manage and market" the properties to ensure they've been "turned around for something we want to see in our communities."
Wood-Shaw added it would be a lot of work for the land bank employee on the front to do the research required to understand the land bank process, which would include visiting other cities with already successful land banks to learn how they operate.
"We would like to be able to market these properties so they do not sit vacant," Wood-Shaw said. "If there are properties that we have to tear down, we'd like to be able to market them to developers."
Wood-Shaw added that the city could forgive liens or portions of liens for individuals willing to purchase vacant properties and build a house or business on them. This would encourage making vacant properties usable and eventually increase property value in the area.
"If there's a street we have in mind that has a lot of dilapidated properties that have been on our demo list for a while, that could be an area where maybe someone wanted to build townhomes," Wood-Shaw said. "If the city could use our liens on the building to tear down the properties, that person could be the one to develop the property and increase tax revenue for the city."
Wood-Shaw added the land bank would increase housing for individuals, which is "desperately needed in the area."
"I really think the sky is the limit with what we could do with a land bank on the front end," Wood Shaw said.
White noted that donations to land banks are also permitted, in addition to buying properties at tax sales.
Council member Brianna Hickman, policy committee chair, presented council members with a template ordinance based on Princeton, West Virginia's land bank ordinance. She recommended that city officials and council members meet with Taylor Bennett, Executive Director of the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation, regarding the land bank creation.
"She [Bennett] has a wealth of experience in helping communities establish these land banks and can give you some examples of where they have really worked and some challenges," Hickman said. "She is the lead on all that, and I highly recommend we meet with her."
Hickman added that, as the West Virginia Community Development Project Director, she has traveled across the state and noticed that lack of housing is an issue that many small communities face.
"We could have great ideas for development that we can't execute because someone out of state owns the property and is never going back into town," Hickman said. "It might take a few years to see the benefits of the land bank come to fruition, but I think having the land bank in place would be impactful in the next five years."