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A process that will help the county address vacant and abandoned properties will move forward with the Kosciusko County Commissioners’ approval
Kosciusko County Area Plan Director Matt Sandy, along with two representatives of the Michiana Area Council of Governments (MACOG), brought the idea of land banks to the commissioners Tuesday.
“Back in 2025, we were approached by the (Kosciusko County Community) Foundation who was looking into the land bank concept, as to whether or not it could apply to our county. They actually funded a study to take a look at our site, our county, our properties that we have sitting out there,” Sandy said. “That funding, that study came back, did say that we have a good setting that could facilitate a land bank process.”
He said they then started looking at different options, with one option being whether or not the county could fund it by itself. At the same time, MACOG was in the process of rolling out a land bank process for other counties. Sandy said MACOG looked like the best option and they have the expertise there whereas the county would have to build a land bank if they do it on their own.
“One of the concepts with land bank is to try to get our low-hanging fruit, I’m going to call it, our tax sale properties. So right now, as of 2024, we had 76 tax sale properties that are on the carousel - keep going round and round. They don’t get bought for a number of different reasons. Many of them are delinquent. Many of them are rundown. There’s a reason folks don’t want to purchase those because it would take too much to get them cleaned up,” Sandy said.
They’re the same properties that the Area Plan Commission and the Health Department get complaints on, he stated.
“So this would be a mechanism to help get those off that carousel, keep them back into the hands of taxpayers that can be redeveloped and cleaned up. It’s just been a process we’ve been working on in other avenues. So this would be another tool in the toolbox that could help facilitate that,” Sandy said.
He told the commissioners they’re looking at the process for possibly this year, with the Community Foundation indicating that the county may be eligible for some grant funding for it.
Sandy said if the commissioners are comfortable moving ahead with a land bank process, they could approve going forward and tying it to the grant. There are a lot of other steps that need to take place, as well.
MACOG Executive Director James Turnwald said MACOG helps local governments address regional challenges.
“One of those challenges that a number of our local governments are facing is how do we address housing, how do we address just being able to find different lots where we can get those back into positive re-use,” Turnwald said. “So this is not anything that’s unique to Kosciusko County. This is something that many of our counties are facing. So we’re working to address that collectively, and so we have a set of in-house experts that are working on housing, specifically trying to address, as Matt mentioned, vacant and abandoned properties, being able to get those back into a positive re-use.”
Lisa Slomka, MACOG director of the regional housing collaborative, stated, “Basically, we want to be able to help addressing abandoned properties, as James said. This is something that oftentimes can kind of be a drag on the neighborhoods, surrounding neighborhoods, etc., and the main goal is to turn properties back around to positive re-use so that they then can contribute to a growing community and revitalized community.”
Commissioner Cary Groninger said he understood the Community Foundation has some grant money from the Lilly Endowment specific for this type of program, but asked if the county had to approve moving forward with the land bank first or if the county had to wait to approve it after the Foundation approves the funding.
Turnwald said what they were asking for Tuesday was the commissioners’ support for the land bank effort, contingent upon those grant funds.
“Later, if, say, you were to provide the approval today, and then you are correct, the Community Foundation is, in July, looking at how they will allocate certain dollars. And so, if they then select the land bank concept to move forward, we would then need to come back and establish a legal entity of the land bank, and that comes back to the commissioners and the legislative body to go through that whole approval process,” Turnwald said.
“Really, I would view this as almost an action of support than an action that would tie the hands or start creating entities. More indicating to the Community Foundation, because they have some deadlines they need to meet with their grants, that if they were to fund this, that you all would be supportive of it because they don’t want to do something that you all would not be supportive of,” he continued.
Groninger made the motion to approve going forward on the land bank concept. Commissioner Sue Ann Mitchell seconded the motion, and it passed 3-0.
After the meeting, Turnwald said a land bank will create an easier process for abandoned and vacant properties, which take a lot of time to deal with. There are 76 properties that continually circulate in the process and never get back to positive re-use.
“So the land bank creates a simplified process that can then allow for the public to be able to access these properties on a website, be able to buy them very easily. There’s a board that approves them, and we can focus on the highest and best positive impact for the community, rather than a bidding process,” he stated.
The land bank process could be impactful in other ways as well, Turnwald said. “There could be communities that have excess municipal properties or they intended to use properties for a purpose many, many years ago and now they are stuck mowing and maintaining (them) and don’t really have an end use in mind for them, so we could work towards getting those back into a situation where the private sector - whether it’s a private business, individuals or nonprofits are able to work towards purchasing those properties in a simpler manner.”
The disposition process or the sales process for local governments to get rid of properties is “very challenging” and it doesn’t always factor in the “highest and best use,” he said. It usually has to factor in the highest bid.
Funding that would come in would help with the operations of the land bank.
“So you’re going to have staff that works on making sure that they are evaluating those properties. They’re going to work with title companies to clear those properties because some of these properties may have complicated legal situations. They may have liens, they may have all sorts of challenges that an individual doesn’t want to navigate, and we want to be able to make sure that they have clean and clear title when they’re purchasing properties from the land bank,” Turnwald said.
Grant dollars would help provide assistance with those operations. MACOG’s model of a land bank proposes that MACOG’s staff provide its assistance to Kosciusko County. Along with Slomka, MACOG has a land bank manager on staff.
If the Community Foundation approves grant dollars for the land bank, then Turnwald said the commissioners would then have to approve a resolution establishing a land bank. Indiana Code dictates what the board structure of a land bank looks like, but it’s generally seven to nine local individuals. A land bank would be a 501(c)3.
“The question that we’ll explore in all of this is, as the county establishes a land bank, that will mean that the smaller communities will be able to participate in this program as well,” he said.
