SARANAC LAKE — The Franklin County Legislature is moving forward with establishing a countywide land bank.

The county was notified that it received approval from Empire State Development to create its land bank on Tuesday, according to Franklin County Legislator Lindy Ellis, D-Saranac Lake.

Creating this land bank would essentially allow a county-created not-for-profit organization to acquire and redevelop vacant, abandoned and blighted properties around Franklin County. Land banks are typically established with the goal of making abandoned properties habitable again in an area where there’s a great affordable housing need — and returning properties to the tax roll.

“Franklin County is very serious about this,” Ellis told the Harrietstown Town Council at its board meeting Thursday, when she announced that the county’s land bank application had been approved. Ellis stressed that the land bank would be “an independent, not-for-profit organization.”

“Franklin County was so serious about this that in the application, we committed half a million dollars to the land bank to fund it so that it can get really good traction from the start,” she added. “We’ll be moving forward with the land bank and that’s really exciting for affordable housing … to be able to focus on affordable housing and to be able to take some of the properties that might be blighting certain areas in the community and being able to get those back into good use for families and for the community.”

Franklin County’s effort to create a land bank started a few years ago. To create a land bank, the county first had to submit an application to Empire State Development and get approval to get the ball rolling — Article 16 of the state’s Not-for-Profit Corporation law permits only 35 land banks to be established within New York state. Right now, there are 26 land banks in New York, and the vast majority of them in the western part of the state and in the Capital Region. The only other established land bank in the North Country region is in the city of Ogdensburg. There’s also a Greater Mohawk Valley land bank that stretches into the Adirondack Park.

The county created a working group to put together its application, which included Ellis, county Manager Donna Kissane, county Attorney Janelle Lavigne, then-Legislature Chairman Donald Dabiew, county Treasurer Frances Perry and Franklin County Economic Development Corporation CEO Jeremy Evans.

“Since some legislators are listed who are no longer with the county, or others have changed rolls, those board members will change in accordance to position,” Kissane wrote in an email Friday. “We have also recruited several members from the community and have written the bylaws to represent all of Franklin County.”

Those bylaws created by the working group include guidelines for the makeup of the land bank board going forward. According to Kissane, per the bylaws, the board will include the Franklin County treasurer; an attorney; a representative of a bank in Franklin County; the legislature chair or a designee; the chairs of the legislature’s Economic Development and Finance committees or designees; representatives from Malone, Harrietstown and Tupper Lake; a representative of an economic development entity and a code enforcement officer.

Kissane told the Malone Telegram late last year that the land bank’s board would be able to identify up to 10 properties that they’d like to see added to the land bank.

The land bank would be able to take over ownership of foreclosed properties before the properties go to auction, with the goal of either rehabilitating properties or transferring them to new owners who would rehabilitate them. The land bank’s board would be able to acquire more than 10 properties with authorization from the legislature. Land banks are also able to accept donated property.

“This is a great opportunity and tool to address revitalization, economic development and demolition of blighted buildings,” Kissane said Friday.