Feb 26, 2016 3 min read

Steve Toprani didn’t want the board to get caught speeding.

“The timeline seems ambitious – one month,” he said Monday afternoon at the monthly meeting of the Washington County Redevelopment Authority.

Toprani, a board member, was looking at a proposed timetable to establish a countywide land bank, which the commissioners are expected to do next week. If that happens, the redevelopment authority likewise expects to agree to take over administration of the land bank at the authority’s next meeting March 28.

A land bank is a vehicle for returning blighted properties to the tax rolls, and Toprani doesn’t want that vehicle to move too quickly. But Bill McGowen, executive director of the redevelopment authority, assured that won’t be the case. He said both bodies are well prepared and poised to make this happen.

“(The commissioners) want to move on this,” he said, adding that his panel does, as well.

The land bank was the focus of a low-key meeting at the Hilton Garden Inn, Southpointe. News of its planned formation broke just last week at the commissioners meeting, but the concept – introduced by former Washington mayor Brenda Davis – has been in the works for nearly two years.

“The information flow has been steady and consistent,” McGowen explained Tuesday. “Now it’s time to move. We had been briefing the commissioners. We’re ready for the next steps.”

That timetable, set by the redevelopment authority, calls for the commissioners March 3 to adopt an ordinance establishing the land bank, and appointing members and committing funds to it; for the authority to apply for funding for the bank, if needed, on March 4; and for the land bank board to have its first meeting March 28, before the authority convenes, followed by the authority agreeing to assume oversight of the new body.

The cities of Washington and Monongahela, Charleroi Borough and East Bethlehem Township are potential participants, along with their respective school districts: Washington, Ringgold, Charleroi and Bethlehem-Center.

The redevelopment authority passed all seven of the resolutions before it, including:

• Entering a contract with the lowest responsible bidder on repairing walls on two buildings that were exposed by the demolition of the Pettit Building at the corner of East Chestnut and North Main streets, Washington. A covering will be put up to protect the walls;

• Entering a contract for Phase II of repairs to Donora Public Library;

• Executing a grant agreement with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development related to a comprehensive plan shared by Fallowfield Township and Charleroi, North Charleroi, Speers and Twilight boroughs.