The city of Grand Island could be creating its own “land bank.”
A land bank is a quasi-governmental entity used to acquire tax delinquent and dilapidated properties and to put them back into productive use.
Omaha has had a land bank since 2014.
A bill approved in August by the Nebraska Legislature allows other Nebraska cities to create them.
“Up until just recently, when LB424 went into effect, Omaha was the only city in the state that had created one and had the authority to create one,” Regional Planning Director Chad Nabity said.
A land bank board would be appointed by the mayor and approved by the City Council.
As a separate entity, it can get separate financing to acquire tax delinquent properties.
It then may cancel the taxes on those properties to put them back on the market in a way that they don’t have to make money trying to resell them.
“They can undercut the cost and subsidize the cost of clearing that property, or whatever else needs to be done, so somebody can then acquire the property and rebuild on it or fix up the house, or whatever, depending on how bad the property really is,” Nabity said.
A land bank also has the ability to receive properties from individuals or banks that may have some of these problems, but are not tax delinquent.
“The individual may be looking for a tax benefit and sees that it may be more of a tax benefit to them than keeping the property,” he said.