The Hall County Commission and the Gainesville City Council will both vote in the near future on whether or not to jointly create and manage a land bank.
The bank would cover much of the city of Gainesville and pockets of land not annexed by the city that are under the county's jurisdiction. According to a release from the city of Gainesville, it would give authority over that land to a board with appointees from both the city and the county.
In the release, city officials say the board "will have the ability to acquire, manage, and sell vacant property, which may be sitting idle due to issues such as foreclosure, title complications, tax delinquency, or code violations."
The two governments will have to enter an intergovernmental agreement to ratify the bank, which is allowed under the Georgia Land Bank Act of 2012. The county commission is set hold its first of two public hearings for the bank at its Thursday voting session, while the Gainesville City Council is scheduled to decide in June.
Gainesville City Manage Bryan Lackey was at Monday's county commission meeting. He said he sees the bank as a potential solution to some blighted properties in the area.
"I think it's been well documented, our efforts to address housing," Lackey said. "This is just one more tool that both the county and the city can use to address this."
