§ 1601. Legislative intent.\n The legislature finds and declares that New York's communities are\nimportant to the social and economic vitality of the state. Whether\nurban, suburban, or rural, many communities are struggling to cope with\nvacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent properties.\n There exists a crisis in many cities and their metro areas caused by\ndisinvestment in real property and resulting in a significant amount of\nvacant and abandoned property. For example, Cornell Cooperative\nExtension Association of Erie county estimates that the city of Buffalo\nhas thirteen thousand vacant parcels, four thousand vacant structures\nand an estimated twenty-two thousand two hundred ninety vacant\nresidential units. This condition of vacant and abandoned property\nrepresents lost revenue to local governments and large costs ranging\nfrom demolition, effects of safety hazards and spreading deterioration\nof neighborhoods including resulting mortgage foreclosures.\n The need exists to strengthen and revitalize the economy of the state\nand its local units of government by solving the problems of vacant and\nabandoned property in a coordinated manner and to foster the development\nof such property and promote economic growth. Such problems may include\nmultiple taxing jurisdictions lacking common policies, ineffective\nproperty inspection, code enforcement and property rehabilitation\nsupport, lengthy and/or inadequate foreclosure proceedings and lack of\ncoordination and resources to support economic revitalization.\n There is an overriding public need to confront the problems caused by\nvacant, abandoned and tax-delinquent properties through the creation of\nnew tools to be available to communities throughout New York enabling\nthem to turn vacant spaces into vibrant places.\n Land banks are one of the tools that can be utilized by communities to\nfacilitate the return of vacant, abandoned, and tax-delinquent\nproperties to productive use. The primary focus of land bank operations\nis the acquisition of real property that is tax delinquent, tax\nforeclosed, vacant, abandoned, and the use of tools authorized in this\narticle to eliminate the harms and liabilities caused by such\nproperties.\n
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