Land Banks – a How To…
Land banking is one of many tools that can be used to
address vacant and abandoned properties. As its title suggests,
this publication is focused squarely on land banks. But it
also highlights the many important links between this tool
and other systems that govern the use and reuse of land,
including, perhaps most critically, property tax enforcement.
In addition, it explores in what context a land bank is likely
to be most impactful and when a community might be
better served looking to other tools, entities, or strategies.
Indeed, one of the most valuable lessons contained in this
edition is the recognition that each community’s challenge
is a little different and that the first step in any community’s
fight against vacancy and blight must be to understand and
diagnose the problem. Only then will it become clear which
tools or strategies, including land banking, need to be part of
the solution.
Communities that are considering the creation of a land bank
and communities that are looking to improve the operations
of an existing land bank would both do well to spend time
studying these pages:
HowCitiesWork 