Development News

Washtenaw County moves toward establishing land bank

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

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Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Saline, Chelsea, Dexter

The Washtenaw County Land Bank is about to become a reality within the next few weeks.

The county treasurer, Catherine McClary, is pushing the paperwork forward to make it official by September. Properties could be put back on tax rolls as early as October.

Land banks are becoming the governmental tool du jour to handle blighted and abandoned buildings remaining from the foreclosure crisis. Genesee County has turned its land bank into a nationally recognized tool to right-size the shrinking metropolitan Flint area. It is advising Washtenaw County on setting up its own land bank.

The new land bank will host two public meetings in September on what type of policies it will employ and how it will be incorporated. It will carry a seven-member board that will create the bylaws, articles of incorporation and policies in September.

The board will include the Washtenaw County Treasurer and Sheriff, a representative from the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, the mayors of Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti, the supervisor of Ypsilanti Township, and the supervisor of one of the county's western townships.

Source: Catherine McClary, Washtenaw County Treasurer
Writer: Jon Zemke