The Athens County Land Bank gives abandoned and dilapidated properties a second chance. The properties are sold to new owners who benefit the surrounding area by providing desirable housing, increasing property value and turning unused property into another source of tax revenue funding schools, developments and more.
According to its 2021-22 annual report, the Land Bank has acquired more than 200 parcels since its start in 2018. Of those properties, 69 had structures that were demolished. There were 12 properties that were renovated back to usable properties, or “rehabs” and 99 parcels were put back on tax rolls, generating revenue once again.
“The problem is dilapidated, falling apart housing due to de-industrialization, the drug epidemic addiction crisis, poverty levels or just something as simple as a family member passing away without many families to leave their property to,” Nelsonville Auditor Taylor Sappington said. “We get these abandoned places that are drags on not only just our neighborhoods but on our safety as well.”
Sappington said the Land Bank acts as a facilitator to try to find people, companies or other entities that can develop, or build homes on that land.
“There’s really no other tool in county or state government that addresses the problem so directly especially in a region like ours,” Sappington said.
The Athens County Land Bank has partnered with Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio to donate extra building materials from soon-to-be-demolished Land Bank homes and the donation of lots for newly built homes to be constructed for the organization.
Additionally, the Land Bank has partnered with Rural Action, the Zero Waste Program, HAPCAP and the Gloucester Revitalization Organization, according to the annual report.
In a statement included in the report by Athens County Treasurer and Land Bank Chair Ric Wasserman, the Bank has its sights set on long-term plans to spearhead revitalization.
“As we head into a new year, your county Land Bank has more than 50 active projects across Athens County, including 5 commercial buildings in downtown Glouster,” Wasserman said in the report. “This is a long-term project without a guaranteed outcome, but we have found that when you start the ball rolling, momentum gathers and progress is possible.”
Wasserman’s message said the Bank has had phenomenal growth in the years 2021 and 2022. This growth is driven by many demolitions, rehabs, exciting new state grant funds and the Land Bank’s first independent renovation project.
“It happens all different ways depending on the situation,” Wasserman said. “The main way that we get control of properties is through foreclosure. Sometimes there’s a bank involved but the property is in such bad shape that the bank is not interested in taking it.”
Aaron Dye, Land Bank manager, said the process for the Land Bank after acquiring a property is to take a look at the closed-off home and get inside to survey the state of the home. He said sometimes the exterior can be misleading as to what the real state of the foundation is on the structure.
“We’ve had houses where we’re like, ‘This is going to be an excellent renovation,‘ then we get inside and the joists are rotted, there is standing water and we can’t do anything,” Dye said. “There are others that look really bad from the outside and then we get inside and realize it is a pretty decent structure.”
Another consideration is the cost it would take to renovate the home and whether it is feasible. Dye said from that point the Land Bank moves into waste diversion and cleaning up the property.
One of the advantages that make Land Bank properties appealing to buyers is they are not responsible for paying back taxes. Dye said if a property goes through a sheriff’s sale, the new owner is responsible for paying the purchase price plus the back taxes.
“When you purchase a property from the Land Bank, you are essentially guaranteed that you are starting with blank slate property, which is definitely beneficial in a lot of the areas we work in where somebody may not want to pay $20,000 in back taxes along with the purchase price,” Dye said.
The Athens County Land Bank fixed many properties in the county such as Jacksonville’s Trimble School, Gloucester’s Sedalia Park and many other homes in disrepair around the county.
Sappington also said the county benefits from these newly rehabilitated properties in the form of taxes.
“It’s now back on the tax rolls and its taxes will be paid regularly, which is really one of the goals in the end: to create a functional, usable, safe and well-desired parcel of land,” Sappington said.
