Philadelphia Land Bank

Update

Land Bank Alliance Releases New Document that Charts the City’s Broken Property Disposition System

With Philadelphia’s City Council poised to pass an ordinance in December 2013 to create a Land Bank, the Philly Land Bank Alliance released a new infographic that shows the complex, time-consuming process now in place for the transfer of publicly owned vacant property, and how that process will change when an ordinance establishing an effective Land Bank is passed. The Philly Land Bank Alliance represents a broad group of stakeholders from the non-profit and for-profit community in Philadelphia.

The infographic shows that under the City’s current broken property disposition system, it takes a prospective buyer of vacant property 1.5 to 3.5 years to navigate a complex maze of various City agencies.  Under the amended Land Bank Bill No. 130156, currently pending in City Council, that process could be reduced to 1 to 1.5 years.  The Alliance demonstrates in the infographic how the bill could be further strengthened to create the most efficient and effective Land Bank by reducing the number of public approvals involved in the transfer from 3 to 2.

The Allies called on City Council to pass the strongest possible Land Bank by its December 12th session date, which is the final Council session of 2013.

Click here to access a PDF of the infographic.