Read accomplishments and happenings related to work Washington Heights and surrounding areas.

Read accomplishments and happenings related to work Washington Heights and surrounding areas.

Land banks have proven to be a powerful economic development tool since the Michigan Legislature’s adoption of the Land Bank Fast Track Act nearly 20 years ago. The 2003 Act was a package of tax and economic development bills that created land banks and gave them a number of powers to assist governmental entities with clearing title to properties and placing properties back into productive use. Taken together, these bills codified a “wish list” of revisions that added both certainty and a set of extraordinarily powerful tools to the redevelopment toolbox. Most often, land banks acquire tax-foreclosed properties. Prior to the 2003 Act, acquiring clean title to these properties presented monumental challenges that impeded development. The Act allows land banks to proceed with a quiet title action in circuit court, which is obligated to handle this expeditiously, enabling land banks to facilitate the development of properties and return them to the tax rolls. Important role in brownfields Land banks can assist in other areas of property development — namely under the Brownfield Redevelopment Financing Act, which is commonly referred to as Act 381. This law has a similar purpose as the Land Bank Fast Track Act: promote the revitalization, redevelopment and reuse of certain property, including tax-reverted, blighted, functionally obsolete and other property. Importantly, under Act 381, properties that qualify as brownfields can leverage certain redevelopment tools. Eligible properties include contaminated or functionally obsolete facilities, historic buildings or structures and blighted properties. This is where land banks can play another important role. Act 381 defines a “blighted” property as one “owned by or under the control of a land bank fast track authority whether or not located within a qualified local government unit.” That means a land bank’s involvement in a development project can provide an otherwise unqualified project with core