Source: By Hanna Snyder Gambini Republican-American

Date: January 18, 2022

WATERBURY - The new year will bring a renewed commitment to cleaning up blighted and abandoned properties as the city looks to establish a land bank authority and have it operational in 2022.

Aldermen were expected to vote on an ordinance to create a city land bank at their last regular meeting in December, but significant technical difficulties during the virtual meeting caused Board of Aldermen President Paul K. Pernerewski Jr. to delay the vote and hearing so everyone who wants to can have the opportunity to comment, he said.

Aldermen will hold another hearing Jan. 10 before the next regular virtual meeting where a vote will likely take place.

Some callers were able to comment, but others said they had trouble getting connected with the meeting, held via Zoom because of ongoing COVID-19 concerns. 

Despite the technical difficulties during the hearing, consultant Brian White gave a presentation on the land bank and why establishing one would be beneficial for the city.

Land banks are quasi-governmental or nonprofit organizations authorized to acquire, stabilize and transfer real properties. White, general manager for Eproperty Innovations, works with land banks and local governments throughout the country. He was hired through the Harold Webster Smith Foundation and has been working with the city on establishing a land bank.

A land bank has long been a goal of the current administration, but the effort was delayed during the pandemic. State legislation that went into effect in 2020 authorized cities to set up land banks, and officials are hoping to make significant strides next year in getting it up and running.

A land bank has several goals, White said, such as helping revitalize neighborhoods and attract private investment, reducing blight and remediating nuisance properties that are blighted, abandoned, obsolete, dilapidated, or burned in a fire.

Some callers who could get through during the hearing asked by the land bank is needed when there already are several governmental or private agencies focused on cleaning up distressed properties.

A land bank helps improve the actual system of dealing with these properties, White said.

Land bank officials work in code enforcement, tax foreclosures, tax sales, and take ownership of local properties, collaboratively, acquiring them through various means, then disposing of them in a way that involves community engagement on moving them back into productive use, White said.

Properties in land bank are exempt from property taxes, "so while holding a piece, we're not incurring a lot of expense," White said. Land banks also have access to funding that might not be available to other agencies, White said, including state and federal grants, private donations, banks, municipal funds or corporations or nonprofit foundations.

Hartford recently received a $5 million state grant, money seeded by state for the capitol city to get its land bank started.

White and city leaders said there is great potential for funding Waterbury's land bank, as there is a great deal of interest from people here in Waterbury and beyond who have a great deal of commitment to the land bank's mission. Mayor Neil M. O'Leary called the establishment of a land bank "a very positive step for the city of Waterbury," by initiating the redevelopment and remediation of numerous properties.

He has said that blighted, vacant, abandoned and distressed properties "are costly and present a danger to the health and safety of residents and contribute to the decline of neighborhoods and adversely affect the prosperity of the city." He said a land bank will help "remedy and reverse urban decay within the city." 

Joseph Violette, director of public policy and economic development for the Waterbury Regional Chamber of Commerce, spoke during the hearing and said his group supports the idea of a land bank as a way to "further help the city acquire and rehabilitate abandoned and blighted properties.''

"These unsightly properties contribute to much of the urban decay found in downtown area, adversely affecting the prosperity of city businesses," Violette said.

Revamping them, Violette said, will continue to help economic development and redevelopment efforts throughout the city, allowing businesses to grow and thrive.

The land bank also has great flexibility on how properties are priced, because its agents are not always looking at the highest price, but the best return on its investment by focusing on a property's best use for neighborhood improvement.

"They're designed to be effective stewards of distressed properties," White said.

Land banks are more focused on residential or smaller properties within neighborhoods and don't generally deal with brownfields and large industrial sites.

When the land bank identifies a property, it will begin the rehab process by organizing dates or a timeline for efficiently repurposing a property, develop strategies and plans for each individual property, then acquire, hold, stabilize and sell the piece.

"This is not a one-off, acquire here and there," White said, but instead the land bank develops a system of getting many properties in and out.

Once the land bank is authorized, the board is appointed then the land bank is formed and considered operating. Development of a strategic plan follows.

Also needed is a set of realistic expectations, White said.

"These problems were not created overnight, they won't be solved overnight.'' Officials said they are hoping to get the land bank up and running as soon as possible, with an anticipated timeline of about six to nine months until it can start acquiring properties.