SIDNEY — It has oft been said that “timing is everything”, and that seems to be the case with the pending discussion of a county land bank. Shelby County Treasurer Linda Meininger has scheduled a meeting with the Shelby County Commissioners and City of Sidney officials to discuss the formation of a county land bank.
The meeting is scheduled for March 24 at 1 p.m. It will be held at the Shelby County Annex.
The impetus for the meeting began with a conversation between Sidney Mayor and former school administrator Mike Barhorst and a former student and now director. That conversation quickly evolved into a serious conversation about the establishment of a land bank.
Sidney Mayor Mike Barhorst telephoned former Sidney resident Ron O’Leary, who is the director of Building and Housing for the city of Cleveland.
“I called Ron to ‘catch-up.’ and after talking about his kids and career the conversation, as it always does, turned to programs about which he has knowledge that may eventually ‘trickle-down’ to smaller cities,” said Barhorst.
“Inasmuch as the topic of a land bank had emerged in Sidney’s recent biennial planning retreat, I asked him about his experience with Cleveland’s land bank. Ron suggested that rather than a city land bank, we encourage a county land bank, and encouraged me to contact Jim Rokakis,” he said.
Barhorst contacted Rokakis, who is a former member of Cleveland City Council and Cuyahoga County Treasurer. Rokakis helped to write and pass House Bill 294, which streamlines the foreclosure process for abandoned properties. Rokakis expressed a willingness to come to Shelby County any time to discuss the process of setting up a land bank.
As it turned out, Meininger also knew Rokakis. She telephoned him and set up the meeting, all within a matter of a couple of hours.
“The Commissioners and I have discussed the idea of a land bank previously,” Meininger said. “It would appear that we could obtain a substantial amount of money for Shelby County from the more than $700M coming to Ohio to tear down abandoned buildings.
“Mayor Barhorst has already spoken to several of the village mayors, and those with whom he has spoken have indicated that they would like to participate in the program. They have told him that they each have properties in their villages that need to come down. It would appear that this program could benefit the entire county.”
Land banks are not financial institutions. They are public or community-owned entities created for a single purpose: to acquire, manage, maintain, and repurpose vacant, abandoned, and foreclosed properties –the worst abandoned houses, forgotten buildings and empty lots.
“I’m told that it takes about three months to establish a land bank,” Barhorst said. “If we work quickly, we should have the land bank established about the time the funds are released.”
