DATE: January 7th, 2004
TO: Mayor Cushing / Homer City Council
FROM: Walt Wrede, Mary L. Calhoun, Dean Baugh
SUBJECT: Land Bank
During the recent budget discussions, the Council asked a series of questions regarding the status of what the administration had been calling the “Land Bank”. Dean informed you that the “land bank” we had been referring to was simply an account he had established to help account for and track monies received and funds expended related to land. This account was initially created as a place to deposit the Exxon funds. A formal land bank has not been established by ordinance and we were simply using the term “land bank” for convenience and for lack of a better name.
As many of you remember, the City Council has discussed the possibility of establishing a formal land bank in the past. Former manager Drathman authored a draft ordinance to do exactly that however, the ordinance was not adopted by the Council. The ordinance was very specific about what funds or lands could be deposited in the land bank and how those assets could be expended or disposed of.
This memo is written to request the advice and direction of the Council on the land bank issue. During the budget discussions, several Council members remarked that we should “do this right”. Other Council members nodded their heads in agreement however, no specific request or direction to staff was given at that time. We are writing to follow-up on that discussion to see if the Council wants to do something formal.
RECOMMENDATION: If it is the intent of the Council to explore this topic further, we would suggest either of the two following options:
OPTION 1: Schedule some time to discuss this in detail at a future Committee of the Whole. This would permit ample time to discuss things like the advantages and disadvantages of establishing a formal land bank and why the prior draft ordinance was not adopted.
OPTION 2: Direct staff to introduce a new, or revised ordinance within the next two months.