The Warren County Commissioners have given their informal blessing to a proposal that would give the county Redevelopment Authority land bank powers.

Commissioner Jeff Eggleston made the pitch to the rest of the board during Monday’s work session.

A land bank is a “governmental or nonprofit authority created to acquire, maintain, and stabilize vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties while working with other entities to promote the productive reuse of the properties,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Eggleston told the board that the closest land banks are in Venango and Erie counties and said the City of Warren can’t create a landbank on its own due to not meeting a population threshold.

He said one of the primary benefits is that the land bank can “be more active in the process of turning blighted and delinquent property into productive use.” However, its functions would not be blight specific.

A land bank, he said, would also be able to eliminate liens and potentially hold properties for development.

“A lot of times we have properties,” he said, and people “don’t want to touch it because of some kind of existing issue with the property financially.” The land bank, he explained, could clean the title and transfer properties to new owners.

One thing this proposal needs is partners — businesses but also municipalities and the Warren County School District.

Eggleston said it would be “difficult for it (a land bank) to do its job especially on a shoestring budget without working with others.”

The first step, Eggleston said, is a willingness from the commissioners to move forward with the idea before going to the Warren County Intergovernmental Co-Op to pitch it to the municipalities. A pitch will also need to be made to the school district.

“We can give the RDA landbank powers with or without” the school district, Eggleston said but explained that one of the funding streams — a portion of the taxes on redeveloped properties returning to the landbank — would require approval from the municipalities and school district.

He speculated that “part of me things (it is) going to be a bit of a challenge” to get the district on board.

The project will take some seed money and Eggleston outlined three potential options — $10,000 to $15,000 each year for two to three years from the county’s Act 13 allocation, the same amount from the general fund and a third option — implementation of a $15 deed transfer fee that would generate somewhere between $20,000 and $40,000 annually.

Commissioner Ben Kafferlin noted that realtors in the community fought the idea of that fee when it was first proposed.

“The Act 13 to me sounds like the most viable,” he said. “(We) know we will have Act 13 for the next few years. It seems like a really good use of the funds. Personally, I’m supportive of moving forward.”

Durbin seconded that sentiment and suggested that if the land bank shows success that the deed transfer fee could be reconsidered down the line.