MARQUETTE — On a recent visit to Marquette County, Josh Burgett, director of the Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority, met with Marquette County Land Bank Authority Chairwoman Anne Giroux and had a chance to see projects the county land bank is involved with.

The county authority, which began in 2009, aims to work “collaboratively with local governmental units and community organizations, in determining the best way to return tax-foreclosed properties to the tax roll, while eliminating blight, providing affordable housing and economic development opportunities and revitalizing communities,” according to the authority’s website.

Burgett said the community can be “really proud” of the work the local authority is doing.

“It’s really impressive,” he said. “As we toured today and saw the properties and the work, the investment that the Marquette County Land Bank has put into the communities is really, really impressive.”

One of the projects Burgett saw Wednesday was a Career Technical Education, or CTE, project in Ishpeming, of which the local land bank has been a partner. This project has given Ishpeming High School students a chance to develop real-world construction skills while renovating a home purchased by the county land bank, Giroux said.

“The Ishpeming High School advanced construction students are renovating a house for us,” she said, noting it’s a CTE project that provides a “real-life classroom opportunity” for students.

Giroux said the state land bank has provided funding to help finish the project, as it also believes CTE education is important for students, communities and the state.

“It really fits right in with our vision and what we’re trying to accomplish,” Burgett said. “We’re trying to implement a statewide program for CTE programs across the state and there’s been a lot of talk and a lot of interest, but up here in Marquette, we saw action and there was actually work being done, and there was a gap, so it made a lot of sense for us to try and fill that gap.”

He said that as a part of the Michigan Department of Talent and Economic Development, the Michigan land bank feels getting more skilled trades workers across the state is a “key initiative,” noting that the Ishpeming High School CTE is a “great use of land bank property,” he said. “It recycles the property into great productive use, but also, along the way, it teaches the next round of skilled trades workers here in Marquette County.”

Burgett and Giroux said this is just one example of how state and local land banks can work together.

“The state views all of our county land banks as partner land banks,” Burgett said. “So we work with them in a collaborative nature to help them with their projects and (they) help us with our projects when we have land and property in their communities.”

Support from the state level is important for smaller land banks, such as the one in Marquette County, Giroux said.

“Most of our land banks in the U.P. tend to be smaller land banks, so support is a big piece of it,” she said, noting that the state land bank has supported the county group through providing training opportunities, acting as a partner on projects, as well as offering guidance, expertise and connections with other state-level agencies.

For both state and local land bank projects, community feedback and engagement is key, Burgett and Giroux said.

“We need to have engagement from the community to make sure that’s what they want,” Burgett said. Giroux added, “Feedback from the local unit is really important. We’re not going to do something in their community if they’re not backing it 100 percent, so we really rely on their feedback a lot.”

Burgett says the state land bank is “highly promoting and recommending” that local land banks and communities across Michigan proactively develop plans for the use of land bank property and have a “vision for what’s next,” as he saw in Marquette County.

He added the county has made good use of land banking tools, noting he’s excited to work with the local land bank “because they’re using and leveraging the tool to its fullest extent.”

Cecilia Brown can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248.