Mayor Nutter on Wednesday announced the transfer of 150
property deeds owned by the government nonprofit Philadelphia Housing
Development Corp. to the Land Bank, a deposit that made the bank able to carry
out its mission: assemble vacant properties for development.
And more deposits are on the way. An additional 500 PHDC
deeds are expected to be transferred by the end of the year, and on Thursday,
City Council is expected to approve the transfer to the bank of 833 city-owned
properties.
The Land Bank was created in 2013, after much negotiating
between the administration and Council, as an instrument for streamlining the
redevelopment of vacant properties.
Currently, the city owns nearly 9,000 vacant parcels, but
the deeds are held among three agencies. The Land Bank aims to end that
situation by taking custody of the city's stock of vacant land.
City officials also plan to use the Land Bank to acquire
privately held tax-delinquent properties and sell them to responsible buyers.
But there were a few hurdles the city needed to clear in
the last two years before the Land Bank could do business, including clearing
up the titles of city-owned properties (still an ongoing process) and
negotiating agreements with the unions representing workers who are helping
with the Land Bank.
"Today marks an important milestone in the city of
Philadelphia in our ongoing efforts to take vacant properties and restore them
into productive use," Nutter said Wednesday during a news conference.
The Land Bank was one of the initiatives Nutter campaigned
on in 2007.
On Wednesday, he said he could not have done it without
the efforts of Councilwoman Maria Quiñones Sánchez, the bank's leading advocate
on Council. He joked that whenever he spoke with her, she found a way to bring
up the Land Bank.
"It's that kind of focus that gets things
done," Nutter added.
The councilwoman joked back that she is "a
disrupter."
Sánchez has signed off on transferring 724 city-owned
properties in her district to the bank.
Council President Darrell L. Clarke, who signed off on 48
properties in his district to be transferred, said more batches were coming,
but did not elaborate.
Land Bank spokesman Paul Chrystie said more deposits are
on the way. Officials estimate 5,500 city-owned properties are eligible to be
moved to the bank, he said.
"It is likely that the majority of those will in
fact move to the Land Bank, although the timing will be driven by circumstances
surrounding each one," Chrystie said.
It could also depend on councilmanic prerogative.
As the law is written, district Council members can veto
land transfers in the section of the city they represent. Many in the
development community have criticized this aspect of the Land Bank legislation.
On Wednesday, Mayor-elect Jim Kenney, who was attending a
symposium on development, criticized what he said was a "slow" and
"frustrating" process of getting the program up and running, then
pledged to support it.
Kenney, who as a Council member voted for the Land Bank
legislation, said he would direct the people in his administration working on
housing, economic development, and commercial issues to get involved with the
process and try to solve problems.
"Whenever there's snags, the administration can play
a role in un-snagging it and making sure the district Council person and
developer get where they want to be," Kenney said.
After the Council and PHDC transfers go through, Kenney
will get to oversee the transfer of 4,000 city-owned properties to the Land
Bank.
Source: Philly.com
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