City, County Weigh Land Bank Proposal
Industry Update
June 5, 2023
Source: The Tifton Gazette
Tifton and Tift County are joining together to find a solution to tackling abandoned and destitute properties in the Tift area.
The governing bodies of the city and county came together for a special meeting May 30 to consider jointly forming a land bank to handle properties that had been abandoned, or are in disrepair, to repurpose them into assets for the community.
Government representatives of Ty Ty and Omega did not attend though residents from those communities participated.
County and city officials requested the insight of Odetta MacLeish-White and Sara Toering, respectively the director of Georgia Initiatives for Community Progress and a senior fellow for the Center for Community Progress, a national nonprofit that works to help strengthen communities through finding new uses for vacant or abandoned properties.
MacLeish-White reported experience in affordable housing and equitable transit-oriented development, while Toering assured she is extremely familiar with land banking, with her mentor being with the Georgia Land Bank Act, which is how the city and county would create a land bank if approved.
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