This house is one of the first properties the Franklin County Land Bank has acquired to turn into workforce housing. Tupper Lake Town Board Member John Gillis, who is the land bank’s property management committee chair, is excited.

“It’s something I drive by every time I go into town,” Gillis said of the house. “I’ve seen it just sitting empty. I’ve seen the serial foreclosures on it — one foreclosure after another, after another, after another. It was obvious that nobody was going to do anything with it.”

Franklin County Land Bank Chair Harry Gordon said there are dozens of homes like this around the county — too far gone for private developers to return to the housing stock, but prime candidates for the land bank. These are often run-down homes that someone buys cheap at a foreclosure auction, doesn’t do anything with, stops paying taxes on it and which get foreclosed on again.

It is a “perennial problem,” he said.

This house at 92 Wawbeek Ave. in Tupper Lake is one of the first two acquisitions by the new Franklin County Land Bank, which plans to demolish the house and build a new one for workforce housing. (Provided photo — Harry Gordon)

“One of the reasons land banks exist is to break that cycle,” Gordon said.

New York first allowed land banks in 2011. Currently there are only 35 allowed in the state. Franklin County became the state’s 27th in the spring of 2023, the first county in the North Country to get approval for a land bank. Essex County got a land bank later that year.

The Franklin County Land Bank was created as a tool to reclaim so-called zombie properties during the affordable housing crisis.

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What is a land bank?

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A land bank is an entity separate from the county, which works with the county to take properties that have years of delinquent taxes and are run-down or vacant and transfer them to the land bank to renovate with state grants and private money and sell to private people for housing or commercial use, putting the land back on the tax rolls.

These properties could be safety hazards, eyesores or empty prime real estate that could be used for business or housing.

The affordable housing issue is significant and widespread, Gordon said, and they can only do so much.

“We can only solve a piece of that at a time,” Gordon said. “This is a long game.”

The key is longevity, chipping away at blighted properties over time.

“Slow and steady,” Gillis said. “It’s not going to be overnight.”

As a new organization, the land bank had to do a lot to get organized at first, Gordon said. But after they got their feet under them, they asked the county to show them properties they could consider acquiring. The county treasurer gave them a list 71 properties with tax delinquencies dating back to 2016.

Gordon said they didn’t want to take on more than they felt they could handle at this time, so early in the learning curve. So the board agreed to choose two properties at first.

One property is an unoccupied single family home at 13 Williamson St. in Malone. This one needs renovation. The other is the Wawbeek Avenue home in Tupper Lake. This one likely needs to be demolished. Gordon said the Tupper Lake home was chosen because of this expected demolition, not in spite of it. He said the land bank board wanted a taste of both renovation and demolition and rebuilding.

The land bank is currently applying for funds to do work on these two projects. These applications are competitive among all 29 land banks in the state, but Gordon there’s a substantial amount of money to work with. The state budget included $50 million for land banks this year in the state Division of Homes and Community Renewal’s land bank initiative.

Gillis said the state money comes with the requirement that the homes are built well.

“We can’t take any shortcuts. Everything’s got to be on the up and up,” he said. “When people buy these homes, you know you’re going to get a good one.”

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Tupper Lake home

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The Tupper Lake property, 92 Wawbeek Ave., is an unoccupied single-family home on 0.2 acres of land. It was built in 1904 and had $31,147 in unpaid back taxes owed to the county. It had multiple foreclosures, rotating around through banks.

Gordon and Gillis toured it and found it impractical to renovate. After getting North Woods Engineering to do a structural survey, it was found to be structurally unsound.

“This is a building that is in poor shape and it would be an enormous expense to bring it up to current code,” Gordon said.

The foundation is collapsing. There’s likely asbestos and lead paint that needs to be abated.

“We take the tough ones,” Gillis said.

The separate garage is not in bad shape, but the land bank will likely need to tear down house to make the lot buildable.

Gordon said the demolition will likely happen six months from now, and that the land bank is currently talking with demolition companies.

Often, they are properties owned by people who ran into hard times. The Tupper Lake home had evidence of numerous attempts to renovate.

“The guy left his ladder standing in the kitchen, he left his hammer on the counter and he just walked out the door,” Gillis said. “You could tell that several people had tried to bring the house back and failed.”

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“Special powers”

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Land banks have what Gillis calls “special powers.” They can hold properties tax-free while they are worked on, so all the funds go into the rehabilitation instead of the holding of the land.

This is part of what makes their formula different than private development and allows land banks to take on these problem properties.

There’s also a process for towns and villages to initiate a legal proceeding to take title to a property and give it to the land bank. Or private landowners can donate property in exchange for tax credits.

Land banks can be flexible with the sale price.

“We can sell the house for the best outcome, not the best price,” Gillis said.

Instead of getting the “best price” from the highest bidder, like governments are usually required to, they can negotiate and sell it at a lower price to someone who couldn’t afford it at the market rate, based on needs.

Gordon said there are constant stories of teachers and nurses who turn down jobs in this area because they can’t find a place to live. The land bank’s three goals are to increase workforce housing, reduce blight and return land to the tax rolls.

Gordon said housing is important to him because he wants to preserve the North Country’s community. People need to be able to live here to have a community, he said.

He also said the land bank can put deed restrictions on the properties they sell, so the new owner can’t flip it at market price to make an unearned profit, and can’t rent as a short-term vacation rental.

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The board

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The land bank board who makes these decisions is made up of all volunteers, with county officials and architects and other experts in the field.

Gordon chairs the executive committee with Franklin County Economic Development Board Member Madelyn Fleury as vice chair. Other members include Community Bank VP District Manager Sherry Boyea and Franklin County Legislator Justus Martin. There is a vacant secretary seat on the executive committee.

The audit and finance committee is chaired by Boyea with Franklin County Attorney Janelle LaVigne and Fleury as members.

The governance committee is chaired by Franklin County Clerk Kip Cassavaw with Franklin County Treasurer Fran Perry as a member.

The property management committee is chaired by Gillis with Gordon, LaVigne, BOCES Building Trades teacher Eric Ashlaw and Franklin County Building and Grounds Superintendent and Code Officer Scott Cook as members.

The land bank is advertising for an executive director position currently. Gillis said this person will be busy working with state agencies, architects, engineers and contractors to organize all the work. When the county gives them a new slate of foreclosed properties next spring, he said they’ll be ready to acquire more properties to turn into homes.