Featured from left to right: Jim Eby (Land Bank Authority Board Chair), Commissioner Joshua Parsons (Lancaster County Commissioners’ Office), Kelly Murphy (Columbia Borough Council President), Keith Combs (Columbia Borough School Board President), and Mayor Leo Lutz (Columbia Borough).
The Lancaster County Land Bank Authority (Land Bank) has completed its first rehabilitation of a property in Columbia Borough. An open house will be held on Wednesday, April 25th at 2:00 PM. The property, located at 839 Blunston Street, was vacant, blighted, and tax-delinquent. The completely renovated home will now become a residence for a new homeowner. Columbia Borough and the Columbia Borough School District were the first members of the Land Bank. Columbia Borough is committed to downtown revitalization and neighborhood improvement.
The Land Bank worked in collaboration with Columbia Borough and the Columbia Borough School District to achieve this success. The building was acquired with a combination of funds from Columbia Borough and the Community Development Block Grant funds which are allocated to Lancaster County by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The building was sold to a private developer who completed the renovations and is now selling it to an owner-occupant.
The Land Bank and its collaborative partners continue to work within the Borough to decrease blight and vacancy. The Land Bank’s mission aims to increase homeownership rates in Lancaster County. Increasing homeownership rates improve neighborhoods and strengthen the County’s tax base.
The Lancaster County Land Bank Authority’s mission is to deter blight and to return vacant property to productive status using a unified, predictable, and transparent process, thereby revitalizing neighborhoods and strengthening the County’s tax base.
During the Lancaster County Association of Township Supervisor’s Spring Meeting, the Redevelopment Authority provided an overview of new and existing programs addressing vacant and blighted properties in the County.
The Authority and collaborative partners are working to address conditions of blight in Lancaster County.Through a two-pronged approach, LCHRA is confronting and resolving problems caused by vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties. The Vacant Property Reinvestment Program and the creation of a Land Bank in Lancaster County jointly identify and remediate troubled properties in the County.
More information about the programs can be found on the Authority’s website.
Project was funded with Lancaster County’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Funding.
Project was funded with Lancaster County’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Funding.