Houston County, Perry agree to form a land bank

Houston County Board of Commissioners Chairman Tommy Stalnaker and the commissioners welcomed Captain Nichole Moore from the Robins Air Force Base to the commissioners meeting, as she shared with them some information about her time as a chemist for six years and her experiences in the military for seven years.

The Board of Commissioners discussed an agreement that was made between Houston County and the city of Perry regarding an agreement to form a land bank to see if it would be a viable tool to deal with in certain distressed properties.

Land banks are defined as governmental entities or nonprofit corporations that are focused on the conversion of vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties into productive use. Vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties can be an issue because they destabilize neighborhoods, create fire and safety hazards, drive down property value, and drain local tax dollars. Land banks are created as public entities by a local ordinance, and land banking programs can also be developed within the existing entities, like redevelopment authorities, housing departments, or planning departments.

“Typically if you have tax-delinquent property that doesn’t sell at a tax sale, it is because there is more money owed on the taxes than what the property is worth,” explained county attorney Tom Hall. “The county and/or city is just not getting any revenue on that property. It’s just sitting there. Each year that goes by, more delinquent taxes run into that total. Nobody wants to purchase it in the tax sale because no one wants to purchase it for more than what it’s worth.”

Hall said that a land bank can acquire the property from the government. “They have the ability to distinguish those back taxes and be able to turn around and sell that property and make it a tax-producing property once again,” said Hall. “Not every property would fit in this mold and be used by the land bank but that’s a scenario that can be used, and then we’ll put property back on the tax role both for the city and county.”

Hall informed those who have been working on this that they should not just go get every property that’s either tax-delinquent or distressed. “You can’t do that. You’re going to look for those properties that are viable and properties that can go back on the market and can produce some tax revenue,” said Hall.

The Land Bank agreement is effective for five years, with an option to renew, and if the agreement is to be a success, there are provisions within the agreement to expand land bank to other municipalities.

Asked what financial liability Houston County has involving the land bank by Stalnaker, Hall replied, “Both Perry and Houston County determined in the beginning of this that each one will pay for the project they used for the land bank,” said Hall. “The City of Perry will fund their project. If it is an incorporated county project, then the incorporated county will fund the project. The land bank does have a five year life and can be extended but it’s a good idea to look at it in five years to see if it’s contributing and helping the situation. Each entity will take care of their cost on their end.”

Stalnaker also asked Hall about what the tax liability would be. “Not really a liability tax-wise but it will help hopefully, tax-wise,” replied Hall.

The Houston County Board of Commissioners agreed to sign the land bank agreement with the City of Perry.

Also brought to the Board of Commissioners was a rezoning application by Bryant Engineering. “This application is by Bryant Engineering. The property is located on Thompson Mill Road and it consists of 79.59 acres,” read Timothy Andrews, the Planning & Zoning Administrator. “This is a summary of the meeting by the Houston County Planning Commission which took place on September 15. At that hearing, they were presented with the application from Bryant Engineering. The application request was for rezoning of a property currently zoned Residential Agricultural to rezone it to R-1 Residential Family.”

The location for the rezoning is on the west side of Thompson Mill Road in Bonaire. The Board of Commissioners approved the rezoning application.