KINGSTON – The City of Kingston is the third governmental entity in the region to be authorized by the state to create a land bank.
The City of Newburgh was the first and has had much success in rehabilitating and selling homes.
Last year, Sullivan County was authorized to create a land bank modeled after Newburgh’s.
The Kingston Land Bank will now file its certificate of incorporation and the nine-member board will be recruited, said Brenna Robinson, the city’s economic development director.
“We haven’t come up with all of our policies and procedures yet, so we will develop those based on the needs of Kingston,” Robinson said. “Kingston is obviously not suffering the same conditions as Newburgh and Sullivan County, so ours will be slightly different, but still helping us address vacant, abandoned, dilapidated properties that bring down property values and cause blight in the city.”
Mayor Steven Noble said the land bank presents “an exciting opportunity
for our community to address deteriorating properties and promote home
ownership, ultimately strengthening our neighborhoods and improving the
quality of life of our residents.”
