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May 01, 2009
BBC looks at how land banking can aid shrinking cities
By ANN RICHARDS
Land banks have been used as part of a community revitalization formula in several major cities throughout the United States since the early 1970s. But in Flint, Michigan, elected officials are discussing how the local Genesee County Land Bank might be deployed to revitalize the city by shrinking its physical footprint.
In a recent interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation’s World Service network, County Treasurer Dan Kildee, who also serves as chair of the Genesee County Land Bank, talked about the use of land banks as a strategic planning tool for cities like Flint, which are burdened by oversized infrastructures that threaten their continued viability. Built to accommodate a population of almost 200,000 residents, the city has lost nearly half of its inhabitants over the past two decades, said Kildee. Compressing the existing population by moving residents living in largely abandoned areas to more populated, stable neighborhoods — then clearing, “greening,” and banking the unused land — could lead to a more efficient and attractive community, he continued.
“There’s inherent value in all land,” Kildee said. “It’s not a perishable commodity. The challenge is to find a way to hold on to it until we can find ways to put it back into productive use.”
In Michigan, land banks allow local governments to overcome the legal barriers that restrain, rather than foster, conversion of publicly owned land and buildings into more productive use. They provide a streamlined, comprehensible, and uncomplicated legal and policy framework for property acquisition and disposition, according to Frank S. Alexander, author of Land Bank Authorities: A Guide for the Creation and Operation of Local Land Banks.
“A land bank is just one of several tools available for reshaping both policy and planning,” Kildee said. “When aggressively applied, land bank tools are formidable.”
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