Beckley, W.Va. (WVDN) – Jina Belcher, Executive Director of the New River Gorge Regional Development Authority (NRGRDA), hailed the state’s enactment of a bill that land reuse agencies say is crucial to their mission of returning vacant, abandoned or dilapidated properties to productivity.
The bill, SB 538, cements the right of first refusal for land reuse agencies and municipal land banks to purchase tax-delinquent properties before they are sold at a public auction to unknown buyers. It was signed into law by Gov. Patrick Morrissey following the 2025 legislative session.
Belcher said the right of first refusal allows land reuse agencies to take a strategic approach when acquiring blighted property that they believe can be converted into housing, commercial or industrial businesses, or some type of community use, such as a park.
“We’re very strategic in which ones we select because we want them to be put back into reuse and be taxable again,” said Belcher, who is also chair of the Fayette County Land Reuse Agency, which was established in the fall of 2023 and is the state’s first-ever county-based land reuse agency.
Andrew Davis, Manager of Strategic Redevelopment; Jozy Moore, Policy and Government Outreach Coordinator; and Amy Showalter, Community Asset Assistance Department Lead, all with NRGRDA, recently attended the Mountain State Land Use Summit in Pipestem where they engaged with land bank experts and community leaders committed to mindful land use strategies and to support ongoing conversations around land banking efforts in the NRGRDA’s region.
Land reuse agencies were granted the right of first refusal by legislators in 2017 but that provision was set to expire or sunset on July 1, 2025.
SB 538 eliminates that sunset clause and adds provisions to ensure that blighted properties are kept out of the hands of “bad actors” who may not have any immediate plans to fix up the property or have previously been delinquent on property taxes.
The final provision of the bill requires the West Virginia Land Stewardship Corporation to submit an annual report to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance detailing the activities of the land reuse agencies and municipal land banks from the preceding calendar year.
Sen. Brian Helton, R-Fayette, the lead sponsor for SB 538, said the bill protects counties and cities, particularly in rural areas.
“It just gives an opportunity for cities and counties to resolve dilapidated properties,” Helton said. “There’s also a lot of instances (of) lands being held that could be used for economic development that just gets idle. I think it’s a really good bill because it takes it down to the most local level of government for them to deal with problem areas, and it’s good for the community. It’s good for economic development.”
Del. Bill Roop, R-Raleigh, sponsored a similar version of the bill on the House side, and he supported the bill because it gives local governing bodies the opportunity to not only clean up vacant and dilapidated properties but return them to productive use.
He added that most counties and cities have laws related to addressing dilapidated and vacant buildings, which can be further enhanced if the area also has a land bank.
“It takes a long time to get through the dilapidated building process. Plus, once we do it, we put a lien on the property and it’s just sitting there,” Roop said. “Whereas now, not only can we purchase it at the land sale when it falls into disrepair, we can clean it up and then get it turned right back around and put it back on the tax rolls. It’s just another economic development tool for the different governmental agencies to help throughout the area.”
After sponsoring the bill and learning more about how land banks across the state are utilizing the right of first refusal improve communities, Roop, who is also the county attorney for Raliegh County, said he began crafting an ordinance to create a land reuse agency in Raliegh County.
In West Virginia, land reuse agencies must be tied to municipality or county government and are established through the passage of an ordinance
Roop said the ordinance to create an LRA in Raleigh County should be ready to present to the Raleigh County Commission before the end of June.
During a meeting of the House Government Administration Subcommittee while the session was taking place, Belcher spoke with legislators about how land reuse agencies use the right of first refusal as a tool for economic development opportunities.
“In southern West Virginia, where there are not a lot of available properties for commercial and economic development, we feel that the land reuse agencies really serve a role in supporting the economic development authorities in taking acquisition of those properties through the first right of refusal and working with the economic development authority for strategic redevelopment of those properties,” Belcher said.
This approach aligns with the NRGRDA’s mission to initiate, facilitate and support economic and community development efforts within the counties of Fayette, Nicholas, Raleigh, and Summers located in this region of southern West Virginia.
Since the creation of the Fayette County Land Reuse Agency (LRA) via an ordinance passed by the Fayette County Commission a year and a half ago, Belcher said they have executed the right of first refusal twice. She added that they’ve also acquired properties through the state auditor’s office with properties labeled “no-bid,” meaning the properties have been put up for public action and received no bids.
Once the properties are required, Belcher said the NRGRDA assists the LRA in determining the best redevelopment strategy for the property.
“There are three scenarios we are looking at in Fayette County specifically,” Belcher said. “One is to prioritize housing development, so looking at sites that maybe have a dilapidated structure on them that we can work with the county to demolish and clean up and then market to a developer to build a new home.”
If the LRA can acquire multiple adjacent properties, Belcher said the second scenario would be looking at whether those properties can be marketed for potential industrial or commercial development to spur job creation. The final option would be to utilize the property as a space for the community.
“So two of those scenarios – housing – those will be put back on the tax roll, that would be taxable property, same with the industrial, commercial,” Belcher said. “And then that middle one is really looking at community assets that can be built and properties that those can be used for.”
By using a targeted approach to tackle vacant, abandoned or dilapidated properties and having the opportunity to purchase properties before a public auction, Belcher said they are able to find more success in converting properties back to productive and taxable use.
“Executing the first right of refusal, that part of the process really benefits at the local level because there’s, again, a strategy around that,” she said. “So instead of a large developer coming from out of state that says, ‘We’re just going to buy up all these properties, we’re gonna bid on them,’ allowing the county and or the entity that has created the LRA to focus strategically on which ones they want to use for productive reuse for that overall area.”
The right of first refusal for land reuse agencies is spelled out in WV Code 31-18E-9. When it was initially approved by WV Legislators in 2017, it came with an expiration date of July 1, 2020. Prior to the 2020 expiration date, legislators approved an extension of the sunset clause to its current expiration date, July 1, 2025.
SB 538 amends WV Code 31-18E-9 to remove the sunset clause and make the first refusal right permanent for land reuse agencies.
Jim Reed, executive director of the Nitro Land Reuse Authority and city planner for the city of Nitro, also spoke with legislatures about the benefits of the right of first refusal for land reuse agencies.
“The right of first refusal is critical for land banks to succeed,” Reed said at a Senate Government Organization Committee meeting.
According to a report compiled by the WV Land Stewardship Corporation in 2024 on behalf of land reuse agencies in West Virginia, at least a dozen of the 16 LRAs have utilized the right of first refusal to acquire properties in need of demolition or remediation.
The right of first refusal has been exercised by these land reuse agencies over 350 times and has resulted in the acquisition of over 300 vacant, abandoned and dilapidated properties.
Of those properties, 160 have been put back into productive use, according to the report.
The report also states, “Every (land reuse agency) interviewed for this report referenced the right of first refusal as key to the LRA’s success in addressing vacant, abandoned, and dilapidated properties.”
Legislators on committees discussing the SB 538 primarily questioned why land reuse agencies should have the right of first refusal—paying only the minimum taxes owed—rather than allowing the property to go to public auction, where competitive bidding could generate higher revenue for the county.
Reed said giving land reuse agencies access to properties first helps ensure that properties are returned to productive use.
“The reason that we got involved in this was because the private market wasn’t taking care of this problem, and it was actually a lot of out-of-state speculation and some in-state but mostly out-of-state that were buying properties sight unseen and bidding as high as their metric would allow and then never touching foot on the properties,” she said. “. . . This was a huge issue, and we were getting no control. These same bad actors were buying these properties over and over again and never applying for a deed, and then it lapping down back into (delinquency), and nobody can do anything with the property.”
State code already stipulates that land reuse agencies are only granted the right of first refusal on properties that have an assessed value of $50,000 or less; have municipal liens on the property that exceed the amount of back taxes owed in the current tax cycle; have been on the municipality’s vacant property registry for 24 consecutive months or longer; were sold at a tax sale within the previous three years, was not redeemed, and no deed was secured by the previous lien purchaser; or have been condemned.
Should a land reuse agency purchase a property using its right of first refusal, it must notify adjacent property owners of its purchase within 15 days of obtaining the tax deed. Adjacent property owners then have 120 days after receiving the notice to express interest in purchasing the property from the land reuse agency at the LRA’s cost, plus additional expenses incurred.
However, land reuse agencies can refuse to sell the property to interested adjacent property owners if they or an entity owned by the property owners or its directors are delinquent on any state and local taxes or municipal fees on any of their property.
SB 538 tacked on additional provisions for when land reuse agencies do not have to offer properties to adjacent landowners.
The bill stipulates that should a land owner meets any of the conditions outlined in 11A-3-45 or 11A-3-48, which prevent people from bidding on properties during public auctions, then they would also not be able to redeem property obtained by a land reuse agency through the right of first refusal. Some of those disqualifying factors include failure to make a payment owed at a prior auction, being delinquent in the payment of real property tax and having a history of noncompliance with code enforcement violations.
