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By The Numbers:
Of Vacant Land in the City of Cleveland
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Reimagining Cleveland! In hopes of writing a new chapter in Cleveland’s history, NPI, along with several collaborators, recently presented its findings and recommendations for a comprehensive blueprint on green land reuse and design of vacant land – Reimagining a More Sustainable Cleveland – to the City of Cleveland Planning Commission. The Commission gave the group the green light to explore and set in motion city-wide strategies for dealing with vacant land and buildings in an effort to make Cleveland a cleaner and healthier, more beautiful and economically sound city. Reimagining a More Sustainable Cleveland is no ordinary plan. Initiated by Neighborhood Progress, Inc., in collaboration with the Cleveland City Planning Commission and Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, the plan will serve as a building block for creating a green, sustainable city. Generously funded by the New York based Surdna Foundation, a working group made up of individuals from key organizations (including city staff, representatives from community development organizations, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, the OSU Extension, ParkWorks, and the Cleveland Metroparks) participated in a one-year planning process to develop the land-reuse recommendations contained in the report. It’s no secret that population decline in the City of Cleveland over the last 60 years has resulted in a growing inventory of vacant land and buildings. There are approximately 3,300 acres of vacant land within the city limits, and an estimated 15,000 vacant buildings. Many of these vacant properties are poorly maintained and diminish the value of the remaining, more viable buildings and neighborhoods in the city. About 1,000 vacant houses are demolished per year, with surplus land becoming a raw asset for the city – a resource for future development as the city’s population stabilizes and progress is made toward recovery. The question is how to utilize this land to produce fundamental change that moves Cleveland forward. Reimagining a More Sustainable Cleveland calls for identifying sites that would provide an economic return, a community benefit, and/or an enhancement to natural ecosystem; incorporation of ecosystem functions such as stormwater management, soil restoration, air quality, and carbon sequestration; and remediation to remove risk to human health and the environment from environmental pollutants at vacant sites. Neighborhood Progress will work closely with community development corporations, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, ParkWorks, and OSU Extension to carry out the next phase of this work – implementation of city policy changes to enable sustainable land re-use and carrying out pilot projects to test the ideas put forth and determine the most feasible and effective approaches for vacant land reuse. Pilot projects may include development of an urban agriculture incubator; native planting experiments; a tree nursery; and phytoremediation for soil restoration and lead containment/remediation of vacant sites. The initiative also seeks to significantly increase community and market gardens around the City. We are grateful to The Surdna Foundation that has pledged $200,000 to help pay for the pilot projects. We look forward to working with Mayor Jackson’s Administration, Cleveland City Council and our partners on making this plan a reality and reinventing Cleveland one vacant lot at a time. Look for more developments and updates from NPI as this plan moves forward. Read the recent Plain Dealer editorial on the plan HERE. Read the full findings and recommendations HERE. |
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Strategic
Investment
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3,300 Acres