Land Bank Board

Pottstown Borough Land Bank Board Meeting February 28, 2022 The meeting was called to order by Deb Penrod at 4:33 p.m. Public Comment: None Board Roll Call: Deb Penrod, Twila Fisher, Carol Kulp, Jamie Sanchez, Lisa Vanni (Zoom) Other Attendees: Peggy Lee-Clark, Justin Keller (Zoom), Melissa Shainline, Winnie Branton, Steve Boell (Solicitor) Guests: Tom Hylton (Zoom) Approval of January 24, 2022 Meeting Minutes: Correction of error in minutes as noted. a. Twila made a motion to approve the minutes; Carol seconded. Motion carried. Review of Bank Statement: a. $100,100.32 in Account – PHARE grant money; nothing has changed. Bills and Communications: a. One bill from our solicitor for $940.00 (review of agenda materials and call with ED in advance of land bank board meeting and response to grant agreement) and $220.00 (preparing for and participating in a call with the Borough). We are looking for approval to pay these invoices. Jamie made a motion to approve payment of these bills; Twila seconded. Motion carried. Report from Administrator and Consultant: Property Inquiries: No inquiries this month. Letter was sent electronically to Rep. Pennycuick regarding HB2210 and Rep. Ciresi was copied on the same. Land Bank Pre-Screening Applications: There were none this month. Unfinished Business: 1. Blighted Property List: No news from BPRC. They have not met due to a combination of weather, quorum, and lack of agenda items. 2. Sheriff, Upset & Judicial Sales: December 9 Judicial Sale was delayed. The next sale will happen in December. Peggy, Justin & Winnie met with Bill Caldwell of the County to discuss the process. Winnie gave an update that the County is willing to work with the land bank to acquire properties from judicial sale. 1  The bigger question is when it is the right time for the Land Bank to post when the properties will be sold. The County needs to be comfortable with the Land Bank posting them in advance of the County advertising them. We can’t start 30 days before the sale because we need more lead time to get developers interested and involved. The land bank needs to make it clear that we do not control when the property is sold – this is at the County’s discretion. 3. 1000 Cherry Street: Land Bank needs Borough Council to agree to transfer this property to the end user. The end user chose not to go to Council at this point. 4. Jamie Sanchez accepted the invitation to serve as Treasurer for the Land Lank. Lisa motioned and Carol seconded. Motion passed. New Business: • Acquisitions and Dispositions: There is now a tri-party agreement (Land Bank, Borough, and Genesis) that has been drafted for the transfer of 707 Hamilton St.. An outline of the Agreement was prepared after a discussion with the Land Bank Solicitor, Judy Memberg, Peggy, Justin, and the Borough Solicitor. The Borough Solicitor has reviewed this Agreement. Genesis will pay $30k to the Land Bank who will then pass it to Borough for carrying costs relative to the property. The agreement has due diligence (inspections, title), normal provisions and warranties. Other conditions (Par. 6): Closing condition is contingent upon Borough completion of the project. It is also contingent on Genesis receiving grant from the County. Deb asked Tom Hylton if he thought it would be beneficial for the Land Bank to present an update to the school board. Tom agreed that it would be good, and that the next meeting of the Finance Committee is March 10. Tom can add the item to the agenda. Deb will do the presentation but invited any other board members to join. Justin said there are not school taxes tied to this property, so the presentation will be given purely as an information item to the school board. Motion needed for appropriate corporate officer to execute the agreement of sale with regards to 707 Hamilton St., subject to final approval of language. Carol made a motion to approve; Jamie seconded. Motion carried. Other Comments: Peggy mentioned the PA Land Bank Network as an extremely useful resource. If board members have a chance to sign on to the call this Thursday, March 4 at 11:00 a.m., there is a lot of information sharing -- for example, how to handle side lots and if it becomes a valuable piece of land, what next? Additionally, how to advertise properties, how to help land banks achieve their goals. Winnie supplies a lot of this information to the land bank and is a big advocate for land bank boards to receive training. There is a resource hub available for administrators, but it should soon be available for board members to join as well. If you have any questions for the Land Bank Network, please share them with Winnie to pass along for discussion, especially about operations. Document sharing: Land Banks are good at sharing their documents so that other Land Banks don’t have to start from scratch. Winnie plans to share our Pottstown documents as well. Adjournment: Twila made a motion to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 5:11 p.m. The next meeting will be at 4:30 p.m. on March 28, 2022. 2