Five years after the state passed legislation creating land banks, a member of the General Assembly has introduced legislation that would equip redevelopment authorities with the powers possessed by land banks. The member noted that he had heard from a county redevelopment authority and the costs it incurred with setting up the land bank.
Three years ago we wrote about the basics of the land bank statute and the land banks that had been established at the time. In two of those counties–Westmoreland and Dauphin–the boards of the redevelopment authority and the newly created land banks were occupied by the same appointees . In Pittsburgh and Philadelphia members of the respective redevelopment authorities were not guaranteed seats. At the time we noted ” It seems a better legislative solution would have been to grant redevelopment authorities the powers given to land banks and thereby avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts and potential conflicts”.
That seems to be the thrust of the current proposal. It won’t end the creation of land banks, but rather it would amend the 1945 Urban Redevelopment Law to give additional powers to redevelopment authorities.
