Land Bank Authority sells 24 lots in West Rome

Property will remain undeveloped, but back on tax books

The Rome-Floyd County Land Bank Authority has sold what amounts to an entire subdivision — two dozen lots — in West Rome for $6,600.

Rome Community Development Director Bekki Fox said the authority had a buyer for the undeveloped property before the land was ever deeded over from Floyd County.

“It was wooded and evidently got subdivided at some point in time,” Fox said.

The land was known as the Robert Weathington property on Roberts Road. The lots are accessed off Billy Pyle Road west of Burnett Ferry Road and just north of the Alto Park recreation complex.

“The person who bought that property, I think he has an uncle that lives adjacent to the properties, and he’s going to keep it for hunting land,” Fox said. “It doesn’t look like a subdivision and there’s not even a paved road out there.”

Most of the land transferred from the city or county to the land bank authority was acquired by the government for failure to pay property taxes. Fox said her office, which administers the land bank program, does not actually request lots be deeded to the authority unless they have someone who is interested in it.

“We are marketing properties as if they were ours. We put a Land Bank Authority for sale sign on it,” Fox said. “We’ll market it for at least 30 days before we even take an offer to the authority. We may get two or three offers but it has to be marketed for 30 days.”

The authority got two offers for the Roberts Road property. One prospective purchaser wanted just four lots but the other buyer said he would take all 24 which, according to Fox, is what the county was hoping might happen.

When the land bank authority sells property, buyers must submit a redevelopment plan. But many times the buyer is an adjacent property owner who just wants to control what happens on the lot. It is not unusual for land bank properties to remain as green space, but it does at least get back on the tax rolls.

In this case, the land will be used for hunting and recreational purposes.

The authority typically meets on the first Friday of each month, but will not hold a meeting unless it has potential purchases to review. Fox said she does not anticipate a December meeting.

“Unless I get an application, we do have some signs out on some properties that we haven’t had any interest in,” Fox said.

Members of the Land Bank Authority include city appointees Harry Brock and Roger Smith, county appointees Rock Gilbert and David Mathis, along with atlarge member Rob Ware.