The St. Joseph County Council Tuesday night delayed approval of a land bank program aimed at more quickly redeveloping long-vacant lots. The delay could threaten $20 million in private money for the program.
A council vote is needed to give county commissioners permission to join the program. All three commissioners said they’re in support. Coming into the meeting, most council members had expressed general support for the land bank concept. Using $20 million in Lilly Endowment money granted to the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, a newly formed nonprofit would take title to long-vacant properties and make them available to developers more quickly.
The Michiana Area Council of Governments, or MACOG, would run the program using about $1 million of that Lilly grant. But at the December meeting, some Republicans pushed to table the measure because they wanted reassurances that it wouldn’t cost the county too much in legal fees and title work.
MACOG’s James Turnwald told the council Tuesday that their analysis of a sampling of such property transfers found those costs would be minimal, and the county wouldn’t be obligated to pay them anyway.
But Republican Council Member Dan Schaetzle raised new concerns that he hasn’t heard whether developers and investors support the program, despite offering no reasons why they might not, and despite none raising any objections yet.
The council then voted 6-3 to approve Schaetzle’s motion to delay the vote at least another month.
