Land Banks and Brownfields: Case Studies

Author(s): Christina Carter-Grant, Rob Finn

Across the country, land banks are emerging as entities with unique abilities to tackle brownfield sites and help communities reuse these properties. A land bank is a public agency with unique powers granted by state laws to put vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties back to productive uses that align with community goals. A land bank’s primary purpose is to acquire properties that some call “blighted” and temporarily hold and take care of them until they can be transferred to new owners.

In many communities, the inventory of vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties includes brownfield properties. Brownfields are properties where the presence or potential presence of a hazardous chemical or pollutant threatens community health and wellbeing and makes redevelopment challenging, risky, and costly. Communities struggle with brownfield properties because of these unique challenges, but land banking approaches can help.

After speaking with land banks across the country engaging in diverse approaches to brownfield assessment, remediation, and reuse, Community Progress selected three land banks—Genesee County Land Bank Authority (GCLBA); Houston Land Bank (HLB); and the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation (WVLSC)—to visit and gain a firsthand understanding of their brownfields work.

This publication highlights these leaders in land banking approaches to brownfield redevelopment. Their case studies reflect the persistence required to see projects through, the importance of centering priorities and outcomes in a people-powered way utilizing community engaged planning, and the partnerships necessary to get this work done.

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