Land Bank

About the Newburgh Community Land Bank

Land banking is a strategy used nationwide to contend with property abandonment. As entities created to acquire, hold, manage and develop vacant properties, land banks aim to convert vacant properties that have been neglected by the open market into productive use, thereby transforming neighborhood liabilities into assets.

A land bank:

  • Acquires title to vacant and abandoned properties
  • Eliminates barriers to redevelopment
  • Transfers property to a new owner in a way that supports community needs and priorities

As such, land banks often provide marketable title to properties previously impossible to develop. Over 80 Land Banks and similar initiatives across the country are changing the dynamic of vacancy and abandonment in legacy cities and high- foreclosure rate communities.

The Newburgh Community Land Bank (NCLB) is a leader in New York State on the forefront of land banking strategies. Th eNCLB will implement innovative strategies designed to return vacant and abandoned property to productive use and the City's tax rolls. The Newburgh Community Land Bank will hold, maintain, rehabilitate, and dispose of these parcels in order to ensure that they help revitalize Newburgh's neighborhoods and increase the City's taxable property base.

While NCLB will work in all areas of the city, its initial work focused on the section of the East End Historic District north of Broadway with the highest concentration of vacant and abandoned properties (Liberty, Chambers, Lander, Johnston, S Miller, Dubois Streets). The Land Bank will expand its footprint over time.

To ensure that the activities of the Land Bank respond to community needs and interests, the Resident Advisory Committee meets monthly to discuss all projects and work of NCLB. All City residents are welcome to attend. The meetings are held immediately following the monthly public board meetings at 6 pm in City Council Chambers generally on the third Wednesday of the month (except August and during the Thanksgiving-New Year holiday season).