The board of directors of the Philadelphia Land Bank Board, an entity charged with helping the city redevelop blighted properties, has released a draft of its latest Strategic Plan. The board will hold a public hearing on the plan on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2017, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Planning Commission Hearing Room on the 18th floor at 1515 Arch Street.
More than 2,000 properties have been moved into the inventory of the Land Bank since it was established in 2013. Last summer, the Land Bank for the first time began buying tax delinquent properties at tax foreclosure sales, and expects to add 350 more such properties to its inventory through the end of the current fiscal year. That’s lots of land. Urban ag should get some of it. The agency’s mission is to ensure “that acquisition and disposition actions support the need for affordable, workforce and market-rate rental and homeownership opportunities in Philadelphia as well as expand green space as side yards or community gardens and support commercial and economic development.”