Why Should Delaware Care?
The Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank has had a rocky relationship with the city since 2021, when its former executive director was found to have embezzled funds from the city organization. In April, new issues resurfaced after one of Wilmington’s most historic mansions came under the Land Bank’s control, reigniting criticism over transparency, accessibility, and accountability. While some critics are calling for the agency to be dismantled, supporters argue it plays a vital role in neighborhood revitalization and should be reformed, not eliminated.
A faction of the Wilmington City Council is calling for the dismantling of an organization tasked with redeveloping dilapidated city blocks into affordable housing after it has faced claims of mismanaging its mission.
Tonight, the council will consider an ordinance that would force the Wilmington Neighborhood Conversancy Land Bank to dissolve 60 days after becoming law.
The ordinance text claims that the Land Bank “has strayed from its initial goal” of purchasing and rehabbing vacant homes in the city and instead has become a “property shelter for developers.”
“The Land Bank doesn’t deserve to be fixed, and they don’t want to be fixed,” Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo said at a recent committee meeting that debated the future of the organization.
Other council members argued that they don’t see the point in throwing away the entire organization.
“Why throw out this thing and start from scratch, not knowing what we’re doing … when we can actually make certain that they’re doing what we need to get done,” Councilwoman Yolanda McCoy argued.
What does the ordinance do?
City Councilwoman Shané Darby introduced the ordinance early last month after she and others argued that the city-chartered entity failed to prioritize residents and had not been fully upfront about its operations.
The move follows revelations that the Land Bank made a decision without council approval to act as a placeholder of the historic Gibraltar estate for former Mayor Mike Purzycki, which received over $2 million in taxpayer dollars over the past year and a half.
“I just think it’s really important for us to be bold and courageous in the work that we’re doing, and realize when something has either fulfilled this goal or is not working for the best of the whole city anymore,” Darby said during a Community Development and Urban Planning Committee meeting last week.
If the ordinance is passed, Darby wants to create a council committee to decide how to move forward, in hopes of establishing better procedures to deal with the city’s vacant and abandoned properties.
In addition to the ordinance, Darby introduced two resolutions — one urging the Land Bank to create an action plan to address transparency issues, and another calling out the agency for failing to properly comply with a council-requested public hearing on Gibraltar, which she and some residents say did not adequately address community concerns.
Though the ordinance is set for a final City Council vote on Thursday night, it would still face an uphill battle if passed, as Mayor John Carney’s office opposes dissolving the entity.
“There is no other entity that will perform the vital and necessary work the Land Bank currently conducts should they be dissolved,” said Daniel Walker, Carney’s deputy chief of staff, in a statement to Spotlight Delaware.
Darby conceded that the ordinance is unlikely to be enacted, since she would need nine votes to override a potential veto from Carney.
Even if the measure does not pass, however, she wants to reform the agency by removing its executive director and conducting new community and council committee meetings to discuss ways to improve it and to hold it accountable.
“I think we could be creative. I think we could be innovative, and I think we can take the next step forward to really looking at the real role of this Land Bank and what it is, and who’s running it,” Darby said.
Organization has faced troubles
Wilmington’s Land Bank was established in 2015 after the state passed legislation to allow the city to create the entity with the mission to “return vacant, dilapidated, abandoned, and delinquent properties to productive use.”
The Land Bank has since been tasked with acquiring vacant and deteriorated properties in the city, either selling them to investors or hiring subcontractors to renovate the properties before putting them on the market for affordable homeownership and rental units.
The Land Bank receives about $500,000 from the city’s budget each year and additional funds from other sources. The organization recently received a $250,000 grant from Bank of America.
It also secures funds from the properties that it secures and sells.
The Land Bank has only four employees and is advised by a 15-member board of directors, including three seats reserved for city council members — Congo and councilwomen Maria Cabrera and Michelle Harlee.
The Land Bank’s rocky relationship with city officials started about five years ago after its previous executive director, Bill Freeborn, was found guilty of embezzling $28,000 from the entity.
And in 2024, the city’s internal audit department conducted a performance audit of the Land Bank and concluded that it failed to have adequate procedures, internal controls, and record-keeping.
The audit found that only six of the entity’s 33 balance sheet accounts were correctly filed and considered “accurate.”
The report also found that the agency failed to properly track property-related costs, document a proper bidding process for contracts, complete financial statements in a “timely and accurate manner,” and has never employed a financial manager with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
But Bud Freel, the Land Bank’s executive director, noted that the audit was conducted just before a new finance officer was hired.
According to City Auditor Terrance Williams, the city’s Audit Review Board approved the Land Bank’s management action plan in April and commended the organization for taking steps to address its past shortcomings.
Despite the setbacks, Freel said that the Land Bank is doing good work to rehab homes for affordable use and working with community organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Cornerstone West, and Interfaith Housing.
He noted that if the council is successful in dissolving the Land Bank, the properties will go into the ownership of the city’s Real Estate and Housing Department, but he is unsure how the work the Land Bank is doing will continue.
“I was around when there was no Land Bank, and then all these properties were sitting in the city’s Real Estate and Housing Department who had no money to do anything with them,” he said.
Some improvements made
The latest conversation around the Wilmington Neighborhood Conservancy Land Bank began in April, when Darby accused the agency of making a “backdoor” deal with Purzycki to hold the historic Gibraltar mansion, which she and others argued fell outside the agency’s intended purpose.
The discovery was followed by other complaints from council members who highlighted the Land Bank’s inability to update inventory, post meeting minutes, and disclose details about properties being sold.
Since then, the Land Bank has updated its website to include a new annual report on the work it has done, added a new inventory list, and hosted a public meeting to inform residents about its dealings with Gibraltar.
But some council members say that is not enough.
“I do believe that things have to change,” Councilman Coby Owens said during last Monday’s committee meeting.
Committee debate heats up
During last week’s Community Development and Urban Planning committee, a heated debate broke out among council members and residents over whether the Land Bank is straying away from its mission.
Voicing concerns about oversight were Darby, Owens, Congo and Councilman Alexander Hackett, who noted that neither the public nor the City Council has access to a complete list of who sits on the agency’s executive board — and its website still doesn’t include meeting agendas or minutes.
They also flagged a potential conflict of interest involving board member Kevin Smith, the president of Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County. His organization receives homes from the Land Bank, yet he remains involved in decisions about its operations.
In addition, council members criticized the agency’s most recent inventory list, which includes over 200 properties, for showing that more than half are marked as “reserved” without specifying for whom they’re reserved.
Freel said that a large chunk of those properties are reserved for the Eastside initiative that former Mayor Purzycki started in 2022 to combat blight and offer affordable housing, and the Land Bank’s ongoing project in the Hilltop area. And others on the list include open properties the Land Bank plans to subcontract and green spaces that the organization has not yet decided on plans for.
Freel also noted that when he stepped into the role, his initial focus was on updating the most critical information on the Land Bank’s website, such as the property inventory and annual report. He acknowledged, however, that the site still needs attention and said he’s exploring a complete overhaul of the webpage as well as further updating and improving the property list.
A few residents also voiced concerns about the Land Bank, sharing personal stories of unsuccessful attempts to purchase homes after being told they needed large upfront payments, leaving them feeling that the process was out of reach and inaccessible.
But Freel noted that, with rehab costs averaging around $150,000 per property, the Land Bank must ensure that prospective buyers have the financial capacity to complete the work.
Councilwoman Cabrera, who is an active board member of the entity, stood firmly in defense of the Land Bank. She noted that over 80% of the property recipients are minority-owned small businesses and credited the agency with helping reduce crime in neighborhoods like Lower Hilltop, where crime incidents have reportedly dropped by 53%.
David Karas, Wilmington police’s spokesperson, confirmed that statistic in the Lower Hilltop area in a statement to Spotlight Delaware and noted that Land Bank has been a “strong partner” in improving the area.
Cabrera also pointed to visible progress in redevelopment efforts, particularly in the East Side Rising and Hilltop areas, where 42 out of 50 vacant properties in one section were acquired for revitalization.
Beyond development, she also praised the Land Bank’s community partnerships, including collaborations with organizations like West Side Grows Together.
In response to concerns about transparency, Cabrera said council members are invited to tour the Land Bank’s office to have their questions answered.
“Yes, there were some shortcomings and there [were] some issues in the past, but they have been corrected,” she said.
Cabrera’s vocal efforts to publicly defend the Land Bank have been ongoing since the council became aware in April that the Land Bank was holding Gibraltar for Purzycki. But tensions flared during the meeting when Owens challenged Cabrera’s stance, prompting her to acknowledge that she had voted to allocate public funds to the Land Bank despite being aware of its financial shortcomings.
Councilmembers McCoy and Nathan Field were also opposed to Darby’s proposal, acknowledging the Land Bank’s rocky past, but noting that it would be better to fix it as opposed to dissolving it altogether.
Hackett, despite his concerns, also questioned whether it may be better to reform the Land Bank as opposed to fully dissolving it.
The ordinance passed out of committee on a 3-3 vote, and will be on the agenda for the council’s July 3 meeting in addition to her two resolutions.
