Movement Underway In NEPA Counties, Cities To Form Land Banks

When General Motors shut down factories in Michigan, the city of Flint lost more than 70,000 auto industry jobs, resulting in an exodus of residents from the 1980s through today that left the city with half the population of its heyday.

The crisis created a cycle of abandonment and blight that prompted the region to create the Genesee County Land Bank, which spearheaded several major redevelopment projects in the city’s downtown, sold 4,683 tax-foreclosed properties from 2004-13 and demolished 3,400 buildings.

Some public officials in Northeastern Pennsylvania cities like Scranton and Hazleton have been thinking of forming their own land banks since Gov. Tom Corbett last year signed legislation enabling cities around the state to do so. Pittston and several neighboring Luzerne County municipalities recently created their own version.

“One issue we all face, that we really have a hard time fighting at the municipal level, is blight,” said Larry West, regional director for state Sen. John Blake, D-Archbald. “We have buildings sitting there on the tax repository list that are boarded up or have burned down.”

Read more: http://citizensvoice.com/news/movement-underway-in-nepa-counties-cities-to-form-land-banks-1.1806370

SAPA Plan Included In Scranton’s Updated Recovery Plan

More than two years after Scranton City Council slammed the door on a regional planning initiative, the Pennsylvania Economy League has pushed it wide open.

Tucked inside Scranton’s 60-page updated 2012 Recovery Plan, which council accepted Thursday, is one paragraph suggesting council will reconsider joining the Scranton-Abingtons Planning Association Comprehensive Plan.

“The PEL sneaked it in the recovery plan at the 11th hour, right before our final vote,” Councilman Jack Loscombe said. “I still feel the same way, though. I don’t see how the plan benefits the city economically.”

The plan, which has been adopted by nine municipalities, provides a policy guide for future land use, economic revitalization, open space conservation and historic resource preservation among the SAPA members. Scranton is the last SAPA member, of 11, to consider adopting the comprehensive plan, according to the updated recovery plan.

Read more: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/sapa-plan-included-in-the-city-s-updated-recovery-plan-1.1364607