The Waterbury Land Bank identifies property that can be acquired, stabilized, and repurposed, to help improve quality of life for people in our proud and growing City. Featuring activities that help catalyze neighborhood improvement, reduce conditions of blight, and advance existing community improvement plans – Owner occupancy is the priority of the Waterbury Land Bank.
Contrary to what the name would suggest, land banks are not conventional "banks" or financial institutions. Land banks are public, or not-for-profit, or community-owned, entities that are created to acquire, manage, maintain, or repurpose vacant, abandoned, or foreclosed properties.
Land banks are public authorities or non-profit organizations created to acquire, hold, manage, and occasionally redevelop property to return the land to productive use which addresses the needs of a community. This allows for community goals to be met, promotes economic development, increases affordable housing or stabilized housing opportunities, and increases real property values.
Land banking developed in the U.S. in the early 1920s and 1930s as a way of making low-priced land available for housing and ensuring orderly development. Following the period of deindustrialization in the U.S., there was a wave of suburbanization. This left many American cities with increasingly large numbers of vacant, blighted property. These abandoned properties caused many problems for local communities, including fire and safety hazards, and so municipalities turned to banking as a way to acquire vacant land and put it back to productive use.
A land bank can sell or acquire property, and utilize land in a way that reflects a community’s priorities.
Land banks can help convert distressed neighborhoods or problem areas and properties in cities into positive areas of economic development. They maintain, develop, demolish, or sell the land to ensure it is utilized to its maximum ability.
For more information on Land Banking, please visit the Center for Community Progress and then add a link to Center for Community Progress.
“To strengthen neighborhoods by returning distressed property to productive use, promoting economic development, increasing real property values, and improving the quality of life for Waterbury residents” is contingent upon our basic core values.
*Waterbury Land Bank is a not for profit 501c3 organization.
The WLB acquired 36 properties from Dec 2024 to April 2025.
Disposition process of acquired properties includes the WLB Side Lot Program, sales via our on-line bid process, and use of the Multiple Listing Service.
Although the WLB is a 501c3 stand-alone not for profit organization, it works closely with the City of Waterbury and is part of the City Nuisance Enforcement Team.
The first housing development project is scheduled for 2025- 2026.
The WLB has commenced acquiring real property and assembling parcels in the W.O.W. Neighborhood for future infill housing development projects.
WLB properties were sold to residents under the WLB Side Lot Program, and via the WLB website bid process, whereby homeownership opportunities were promoted and given priority.
The WLB was awarded $1,045,000 in funding via the CT CDS FY24 initiative for our first WOW Neighborhood Revitalization project. The City of Waterbury granted the WLB $300,000 towards this same WOW project.
Both City owned properties, and privately owned properties have been acquired by the WLB.
Strategic Planning initiated by the Waterbury Land Bank Authority with use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) mapping and use of re-designed EPropertyPlus (EPP) software.
WLB hired John Ewing in April 2023 as our Planner/Real Estate Analyst.
Condition Assessment program is completed in August 2023 with the WLB performing sidewalk inspections of over 200 properties. A grant for this program was provided by the Liberty Bank Foundation.
Ten (10) surplus properties acquired by the WLB from the City of Waterbury in October 2023. Disposition of properties underway. Side Lot Program launched. Two properties improved with residential houses on the market for sale. Applications to bid on purchase properties were accepted and ranked by WLB.
The Waterbury Land Bank (WLB) Board of Directors perform a regional search for the first Executive Director for the Waterbury Land Bank Authority. In July 2022, Nancy M. MacMillan was selected as their Executive Director.
In October 2022, WLB offices were established at 207-231 Bank Street in Waterbury. Located on the 3rd floor, the WLB office is part of the Buckingham Place historic district.
Waterbury announces the ordinance authorizing creation of the Waterbury Land Bank Authority with the initial slate of directors. A Certificate of Incorporation and bylaws are also drafted, aligning closely with state law, in preparation for forming the Waterbury Land Bank.
In 2021, a study was conducted by the Center for Community Progress regarding the land-related opportunities in Waterbury.
Findings of the report included the recommendation for the City to create a Land Bank.
In the summer of 2019, the City of Waterbury lobbied the Connecticut legislature – with HB 7277, An Act Concerning the Creation of Land Bank Authorities, being signed into law by Governor Lamont.
After becoming law, Dan Pesce, Captain Lauer, the Harold Webster Smith Foundation, and Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary visited Newburgh, New York, to meet with their land bank staff and to examine the success that they have had.
Concurrently, a collection of over 30,000 parcels were surveyed, leading to the creation of a database dedicated to the number and condition of residential properties in Waterbury.
With momentum building, the first step in establishing the Waterbury Land Bank was the creation of land
bank legislation.
Through the recommendation, endorsement, and subsequent support, by the Harold Webster Smith Foundation, Jim Smith, and Cathy Smith, the City of Waterbury hired Dan Pesce as Community Development Planner in 2019.
Pesce worked with community groups and the Waterbury Neighborhood Council to assess needs and streamline blight remediation efforts.
The Waterbury Land Bank Advisory Committee forms to organize the Waterbury Land Bank as a quasi-municipal government body. Progress is made to develop a memorandum of understanding, process documents, and related operational materials.
City staff and volunteers conduct a housing conditions assessment to identify and begin prioritizing interventions on residential buildings in Waterbury. Data is gathered, mapped, and stored in a software system purchased to support the land bank.
The Connecticut Blight Remediation Coalition begins meeting to share information and coordinate local government action around community revitalization. The Coalition, now known as the Connecticut Vibrant Communities Coalition (CVCC) starts with Waterbury and Hartford, with funding from HWSF and staffing by Local Initiatives Support Coalition (LISC). At present, it includes 14 municipal and nonprofit organizations.
HWSF also paid for Frank Alexander to come to CT to present on land banks in October.
In November, Center for Community Progress holds a Vacant, Abandoned, and Dilapidated (VAD) Academy in Hartford, CT to share technical assistance and build capacity for local governments to coordinate anti-blight and community revitalization activities. In December, Center for Community Progress issues a technical report with recommendations for Waterbury to address blight. A land bank is recommended among several other strategies. The City begins implementing recommendations and continues efforts underway that are validated by the report.
Plan for Conservation and Development adopted to guide next decade of land use. Land bank is featured as a recommendation for assisting the city implementation of various land use strategies. Harold Webster Smith Foundation (HWSF) contracts with Center for Community Progress to review Waterbury strategies for addressing blight. HWSF subsequently provides seed capital for the City to hire Community Development Planner to implement some of CCP's recommendations.
City continues to execute strategic demolitions of dilapidated properties with close coordination across city departments.
In April, Mayor O'Leary forms Blight Task Force under leadership of Lt. Dan Lauer of Waterbury Police Department to formalize its anti-blight strategy and improve coordination of resources. Work continues on targeted residential demolitions, neighborhood clean-ups, and aggressive action against negligent property owners. The City also undertakes aggressive repurposing of numerous brownfield sites, which continues through the next decade.
Stewardship of the Waterbury Land Bank is provided by a group of local volunteers.
Fred is a former Board of Alderman for the City of Waterbury, and former President of Neoperl – a
manufacturer/distributor for the faucet and water industry.
Dr. Gatling is the retired President and Chief Executive Officer of New Opportunities – a community action agency serving Waterbury and cities/towns across Connecticut.
The WLB awaits a newly appointed director as Secretary of the Board of Directors.
Dan is a Patrol Officer for the Middlebury Police Department and is an active member in numerous community organizations.
Robert is the retired Senior Vice President of Webster Bank, and an active member of the Harold Webster Smith Foundation Board of Directors.
Gawdys is the Director of Vocational, Education & Training at New Opportunities in Waterbury which serves a vast range of populations in the local community.
Joel is the Chief Executive Officer of Torrco, a successful family-owned plumbing, piping, HVAC, kitchen & bath solutions business based in Waterbury.