GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids is now the second city in Michigan to form its own land bank, highlighting the need to accelerate local development opportunities.
Tuesday, the Grand Rapids City Commission voted to establish the land bank authority after state legislation enabling the move was signed into law this past June.
According to Economic Development Director Sarah Latta Rainero, Grand Rapids started advocating to establish its own land bank in 2021 with hopes of pursuing more local control over property development. “We are a qualified city, so we are more than 50,000 in population. We are also located in a county without an authority,” Rainero said.
Kent County's land bank dissolved at the end of 2018, so its properties reverted to the state's land bank authority, which managed them alongside the city of Grand Rapids.
“I think the land bank is a really critical tool that can be of tremendous use in our city to meet some of our goals, particularly around housing,” Grand Rapids Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said at Tuesday's meeting.
However, Mayor Bliss added that Grand Rapids now has different needs, as the current season of the city is not the same as the past. “When the Kent County land bank was in place, we were in a time of significant recessions; we had a lot of foreclosures,” Mayor Bliss said.
Per an intergovernmental agreement between the State Land Bank Authority and the city of Grand Rapids, five members of the city's Brownfield Redevelopment Authority Board will oversee the new land bank. Still, the mayor and city commission will have the option to pursue a new board in the future.
Mayor Bliss said, “The individuals sitting around this table next year may have different ideas, so what we decide on today doesn’t have to be what the Grand Rapids land bank is into the future — there can be amendments and changes made next year.”
Bliss says she thinks it makes sense for the Brownfield Authority Subcommittee to create an initial framework for the land bank, and she believes that there may be much overlap between the duties of the land bank and the Brownfield Authority.
First Ward City Commissioner Drew Robbins added that he supports creating the city's Land Bank Authority to allow for more housing development, but wants to ensure properties don't waste away in the land bank for too long.
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