ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Allentown could take over the city’s Redevelopment Authority in the hopes of spurring quicker turnover at its properties.
Vicky Kistler, who leads the city’s department of community and economic development, recently briefed Allentown City Council about the proposed partnership.
Kistler said officials from the city and the authority are working out the “final stages” of an agreement that would see the authority move “back … in-house as an arm of our DCED department.”
The Redevelopment Authority would “maintain an independent board, solicitor and financial books.”Vicky Kistler, director of community and economic development
Allentown Redevelopment Authority says its mission is to “acquire unsafe, unsanitary, inadequate or undesirable” properties through the free market or eminent domain.
It works to put those properties back on the market and the city’s tax books.
The Redevelopment Authority will “maintain an independent board, solicitor and financial books” if council approves a memorandum of understanding between the city and authority, Kistler said.
'Build stronger relationships'
Allentown’s Redevelopment Authority has an “active” board that “doesn’t need a ton of support,” just some help with administrative duties, she said.
But the authority has been without staff since last summer when its two employees resigned.
City staff would take over many of the Redevelopment Authority’s duties, such as ensuring properties are inspected, secured and compliant with government record keeping requirements.
Allentown’s community and economic development team also will work to build “stronger relationships” between the Redevelopment Authority and local housing organizations, according to Kistler.
That will help the agency and city “aggressively address blight” while also “shorten[ing] the length of time that a property remains in the portfolio of the RDA,” she said.
The Redevelopment Authority, with help from the city’s department of community and economic development, should be able to move properties faster, Kistler said.
And the new partnership could help the agency invest its money more efficiently by reducing the amount it spends to maintain properties while they’re on the market.
