Just as Lansdale Borough is trying to address the volume of commercial vacancies in our community, so too is the Commonwealth. This past August, HB 1791, a bipartisan bill brought forward to fight blight and vacant properties, was reported to the Committee on Urban Affairs. Today, this bill is likely to pass the committee and move forward in the process for wider consideration.
The bill presents language on how municipalities can address vacant properties within their community through the creation of a vacant property registry. This should sound familiar to many of you. In January, this column revisited the idea of a commercial vacancy registry where commercial landowners would be asked to register their vacant property with the borough so that there is accountability on the part of landowners and so that the borough could help them find a tenant through our Main Street Manger, if appropriate.
So, why is this important? The first is the existence of the bill indicates that this issue is widespread across the commonwealth and not isolated to our area or even our county. The sponsors of the legislation come from a mix Lehigh, Montgomery, and Allegheny counties, while also spanning both parties. This similarly suggests that this is not an “blue” or “red” issue. This is a community challenge that everyone is trying to solve so that our communities can thrive.
At its core, this bill is trying to give communities a template on how to increase investment in their own redevelopment by creating structure and expectations for those looking to invest in their area. This is what everyone wants. Invested partners that are looking to lift the community up rather than allowing property to sit vacant for years on end.
HB 1791 lays out a similar process to what has been discussed previously. Whereby municipalities can require commercial property owners to register their vacant property after 90 consecutive days of the termination of the prior lease agreement. It even creates similar exemptions that allow for commercial landowners to apply based on their unique situation. Critically, any municipality who already has a vacancy registry system is place may continue to use their existing language rather than adopt the new rules presented in the bill. This is important because if we would like to build a vacancy registry that meets the needs of Lansdale, specifically, we need to do it before this legislation is signed into law.
Additionally, there are some added layers to the language in HB1791 that, locally, we had not considered. The first being a mandatory re-assessment for any vacant property that is registered that year. This is something only the county or state could mandate. Unless we created local language prior to the passage of this bill we would need to comply with this requirement if we were to pass a vacancy registry. Additionally, it limits how a municipality can spend the funds they generate through a vacancy registry fee. While limiting, locally we have always discussed this as being a part of our revitalization efforts and would fit within the guidelines provided in the bill’s language.
I am buoyed by the creation, and possible passage, of this measure. It showcases that speculation buying has, truly, hampered communities across the Commonwealth. The reality is that while commercial landowners, obviously, pay taxes to the municipality they can write off any losses through SALT (State and Local Tax) exemptions. This means they can leave properties vacant for years while decreasing their total tax load at the expense of the communities that make their property worth owning. Accountability and partnership are the goals for programs like this and it is my hope that Lansdale will create a version of this that works for us so we revitalize and move forward together.
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert.)
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