Tension in the land bank meeting after the City of Lima sent a letter requesting Allen County elaborate on their plans for a section of Kibby Street.
The letter was sent in response to an application by the Allen County Land Bank to take over three delinquent city properties on Kibby. This, in hopes of combining them with two of the county's properties along the street. The county land bank says combining the properties into a larger parcel would make the area more marketable for potential economic development. The city was under the impression that the land bank had a specific interest in mind when filing, however the county says that they cannot market land they don't own. While they don't expect special treatment, Chairman Jay Begg says that transferring the properties to them is not the same as interest from a private citizen.
"I understand that they need to make sure that a private person wouldn't be acquiring a property and not using it for the best purposes. We are a quasi-governmental agency and we are using it. Our mission is to put these properties in the hands of a private individuals who will use them and start paying taxes on them," explained Begg.
Begg says that the county land bank will revise its application for the properties, but hopes that in the future, things can be handled in a more cooperative way.
