The Knox County board is considering a proposal to join a new land bank that will pool regional resources to revitalize vacant, abandoned, and underutilized properties throughout west central Illinois.
After hearing a presentation from Prairie Hills Resource Conservation & Development, the board could take action to join the land bank in September.
“At this point, we have been working with a team of consultants throughout the state for approximately 13 months. We have determined that this region of Illinois would greatly benefit from a land bank. We are targeting McDonough, Hancock, Knox, Fulton, and Warren counties,” Victoria Livingston, executive director of Prairie Hills, told the board.
Livingston said there are land banks all over Illinois, but this is the first in this part of the state.
“It's not a secret that this part of the state tends to get forgotten about certain things, and this is no exception,” Livingston said. “Through the land bank, we can work on industrial, commercial, or residential properties that are in need of help.”
Municipalities across the five-county region have been invited to join the land bank. Several have already signed on, while others are considering it or taking a wait-and-see approach. Livingston expects the first properties to be in the land bank later by the end of the year.
The fee to join is population-based – $3 per capita – and helps pay for overhead costs and staffing. Municipalities are being asked to sign up for an initial three-year commitment. They can then put blighted properties in the land bank, which Livingston calls a “repair station.” There, dedicated land bank staff seek grants and tackle tasks like building inspections and code enforcement.
“Primarily, we're looking at things like vacant or abandoned properties. In the case of industrial or commercial sites, we can target brownfield program sites and we can look at properties that are owned by out-of-state landowners who may need help navigating the process in Illinois to be able to get those properties out into active economic usage,” Livingston said.
Livingston said when a county signs on to participate in the land bank, it can help smaller communities revitalize vacant and abandoned properties – particularly unincorporated communities or those with populations under 1,000 residents – while larger communities, such as Galesburg or Abingdon in Knox County, could decide to join on their own.
“The county would be able to represent some of those smaller communities who may not have the budgetary funds or the staff to join the land bank themselves,” she said.
Board chair Jared Hawkinson, R-District 4, said the board will work with the county collector to brainstorm properties in Knox County that could benefit from the land bank.
