By KELSEY AINSWORTH
Northeast News
August 8, 2012 

Northeast neighborhoods can be revitalized thanks to the new land bank legislation in Kansas City.

Governor Jay Nixon signed House Bill 1659 on July 9 to establish a land bank in Kansas City to help convert abandoned properties into something useful. A land bank is a government entity that works to convert vacant, abandoned, tax-delinquent and foreclosed properties into productive properties once again. Last year, the city of Kansas City was estimated to have 12,000 vacant properties.

Land banks can play a major role in revitalizing the community. One abandoned property can bring the value of surrounding properties down significantly. Converting these properties to productive uses stabilizes property values and puts properties back on the tax rolls.

Land banks focus on surplus public properties, “below water” properties, abandoned properties and tax delinquent properties. Kansas City’s land bank will be financed through land sales revenue, rent and/or partnerships, grants or loans from public and private sources, a three-year 100 percent tax recapture program and bond issuance.

“The law was signed and will come into force at the end of this month,” Kansas City City Council member Scott Wagner said. “What we are working on right now is the bylaws to how the land bank is selected, but the land banks will be felt within a year in Northeast.”

There are more than 3,000 properties in Kansas City that will be transferred to the land bank. In Northeast there will be a minimum of 150 properties that will be transferred to the land bank.

“Once everything is established we will be able to get ahold of these abandoned properties,” said Wagner. “The idea is to get these properties back into the hands of homeowners and the effects should be seen very quickly.”