New York State Empire State Development (ESD) has extended the deadline for municipalities to submit applications for participating in the second round of the New York Land Bank Program. The new deadline for submitting application is January 30, 2013.
The program was created by Article 16 of the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law. Under the program, governmental entities that possess the power to foreclose on tax liens (“foreclosing government units” or “FGUs”) are permitted to create a not-for-profit corporation whose purpose is to facilitate the return of vacant, abandoned, and tax delinquent properties to productive use. The land banks are authorized to acquire properties that are tax delinquent, tax foreclosed, vacant and/or abandoned so that the parcels can be returned to productive use.
Eligibility, criteria and additional program information can be found in the Land Bank Program Guidelines. In general, the applicant must be an FGU and must have adopted a local law, ordinance or resolution that complies with the provisions of Land Bank Act. Two or more FGUs and/or municipalities may agree to create a single land bank provided they enter into an intergovernmental cooperation agreement authorized pursuant to a local law, ordinance or resolution. Copies of the intergovernmental agreement, relevant local law or ordinance authorizing the land bank as well as the proposed certificate of incorporation and by-laws of the land bank must be included with the application
Applications for the second round are available Here and must be submitted to the appropriate ESD Regional Office.Applications may also be electronically submitted to [email protected].