2nd midstate county creates land bank to fix blight

(Lancaster) — Another midstate county is creating a land bank in an effort to clean up blighted properties.

Lancaster County Commissioners are instituting a land bank, a couple of years after Dauphin County became the first in the state to put one together.

The move will streamline the redevelopment process to give small and mid-size developers a chance to work on properties, according to Lancaster County Housing and Redevelopment Authorities Executive Director Matthew Sternberg.

County Commissioner Craig Lehman explains the land bank will be able to buy buildings before they go to sheriff’s sale, with the approval of local leaders.

“So it isn’t going to be that the Land Bank Authority is going to be dictating to a municipality this is the property that we want and if you disagree with it, too bad. Not going to work that way. This is going to be very, very collaborative,” says Lehman. 

Lehman says he’s hopeful municipalities will participate, and expects the land bank to take on a couple of projects within the next year. Some are held tax-free while redevelopment work is underway.

He adds: “The Land Bank Authority will give municipalities the ability to be strategic in terms of which properties are deteriorating and need rehabilitation, revitilization.”

The first meeting is scheduled for July 26th, where rules and regulations will be developed.

Dauphin County has used the process to successfully rehab and sell a house in Susquehanna Township, and it’s working on building five new homes where dilapidated structures once stood.