Van Buren County Land Bank Ready To Get To Work

trishanesbitt
trishanesbitt

The Van Buren County Land Bank is finally getting ready to start working on revitalizing blighted areas of the county, roughly a decade after being created. County Treasurer Trisha Nesbitt heads up the panel and is excited to get to work next year now that the Board of Commissioners has appointed four members to the Land Bank Board of Directors.

“We will definitely be setting some goals as we do a needs assessment in the county to see where we can make the most positive impact,” Nesbitt tells WSJM News.

She says they’ll tackle issues by cleaning up one blighted property at a time to get abandoned parcels back onto the tax rolls and into productive use.

“We have a great example in our neighboring county of Kalamazoo of the work they’ve done to revitalize a number of communities, especially in the city of Kalamazoo, with some unique partnerships that they’ve established.”

The state is home to 42 land banks, representing communities large and small. According to a report released by the Michigan Association of Land Banks, the state’s land banks have put tens of millions of dollars back into local communities and created hundreds of jobs.

The four members appointed to the Van Buren County Land Bank Board of Directors are:

  • Cynthia Compton, owner of Compton Incorporated, real estate developer at Osage Development Corp. and realtor at King Realty Group
  • Paul DeYoung, Van Buren County Register of Deeds
  • Zachary Morris, executive director for Market Van Buren
  • Matthew Newton, manager of the Village of Decatur