BATON ROUGE - Over the last 12 years, the city of Detroit addressed nearly 47,000 land bank abandoned homes through demolition or rehabilitation through programs offered by the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

The city of Baton Rouge looks to model their blight removal process.

"We went to the place that could tell us, this is how we get this done expeditiously. This is how we get this done legally, and this is how we get this done with the least amount of pain to be able to return property to people in Baton Rouge," East Baton Rouge Metro Council Member Jen Racca said.

Racca says that during their trip to Detroit, they found that Detroit has a city ordinance in place that allows them to transfer ownership of blighted property quickly, getting the properties back in commerce.

"One of the biggest hurdles that we face is ownership of that property. How do we transfer ownership?" Racca said.

Racca says the current city ordinance allows the city-parish to have authority over the property, but not ownership.

"The fact that we have the title and ownership issues and we don't have the law in place to be able to get a clear title keeps us from moving along with those programs, getting these pieces and parcels of land back into commerce, rehabilitating neighborhoods, and keeping the neighborhoods free from blight," she said.

She says they look to use the city's land bank, Build Baton Rouge, to its fullest potential.

"Transferring ownership to the landbank is the first step and the first process that we have to move along and speed up. Once we transfer that, then the funding mechanism and the funding sources can either come from grants, can be privately funded, and the land bank will utilize and move those funding mechanisms forward and present those to the people," Racca said.

In Detroit, Racca says the city council does not play a role in the condemnation process, but they do work heavily with the land bank.

Here in Baton Rouge, the condemnation process goes before the Metro Council.

"There are also questions about whether or not that particular statute can override the current plan of government. So there's a question because our plan of government was written, our plan of government clearly defines that the council has to handle certain proceedings. That statute is not exactly in compliance with our plan of government," Racca said.

Racca says they could potentially need a law from the state legislature.

"And then the council would need an ordinance that they would have to adopt, that law, and put into place what we would want to see moving forward," Racca said.

Racca says they have already hit the ground running on trying to speed up blight removal in East Baton Rouge Parish. She says they met with the parish attorney's office today.