Vacant land stewardship requires four fundamental elements: knowing your community’s context, having clear goals and plans, committing to collaboration, and enacting facilitative policies. These four elements will look different in every community, but they are all critical components of implementing successful vacant land stewardship. To learn more about these elements and discover some next steps for your community's learning journey, explore the element examples below. To view the presorted examples by type click on one of the following: Plans > Policy > Collaboration > Context >
Element Type
Organization
City of Gary
The Gary Green Infrastructure Plan is a city-wide framework for green infrastructure. The plan integrates with broader land use planning and redevelopment efforts and details existing conditions. Importantly, it provides tools, strategies, and recommendations for project prioritization and discusses management, funding, and financing structures.
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St. Louis Vacancy Collaborative
“The St. Louis Vacancy Collaborative is a coalition of community members, private and nonprofit stakeholders, and City agencies committed to reducing vacant property in St. Louis. The Collaborative helps to coordinate existing vacancy efforts under one umbrella and empowers the public and private sectors to work together toward solutions. We convene committees…
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City of Baltimore
Baltimore’s Open Data Portal provides access to hundreds of datasets and interactive dashboards. The Vacant Building Dashboard shares data on number of vacant building notices, building rehabs, and demolitions. The data can be sorted and filtered by geographic bounds, time increments, and even “housing market typology.”
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City of St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority
The ‘Mow to Own’ Program is allows residents who own an occupied residential or commercial property to purchase adjacent vacant lots for $125. Applications are submitted to the St. Louis Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) Board of Commissioners for review. Following approval, the successful applicant receives a deed to the property with a two-year maintenance lien. As long as there are no violations and no complaints in that time period, the LRA will remove the maintenance lien. If there are violations, the LRA can re-acquire the property.
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City of Detroit
The Detroit Solar Toolkit consists of five different tools to enable Detroiters to undertake the equitable deployment of solar energy as a path to a more sustainable future for residents of Detroit. The tools include an online solar map, solar design guidelines, solar building approval process, and solar policy guides…
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Saginaw Basin Land Conservancy
The Pollinator Project uses re-naturalization techniques to stabilize vacant urban land in Saginaw, MI. Through a partnership with the Saginaw County Land Bank, the Pollinator Project has transformed over half the land bank’s vacant lot inventory. Other partners, including community groups, local universities, businesses, and funders, make the Pollinator Project…
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City of Flint
The repurposing of vacant properties is a central component of Imagine Flint. Recognizing that some areas of Flint cannot continue to exist as they do today, Flint residents have chosen to adapt and transform their neighborhoods and commercial corridors into areas where innovative practices, including green neighborhoods and the green…
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Heartland Conservation Alliance
This mapping tool is designed to help prioritize the vacant lots that can have the most environmental and health benefits for urban communities. The tool provides parcel specific information and important contextual information like if it is in a flood plain or owned by the land bank, allowing neighbors to…
Read More...A Decision-Making Roadmap
The City of South Bend, Indiana engaged Community Progress to assess the feasibility of a land bank and provide a road map of critical decision points. This report identifies what keeps vacant lots and buildings stuck in a cycle of decline, and how a land bank might help.
Read More...Examining Heirs' Property in Three Rural Georgia Counties
This project of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government examines the scale of heirs’ property across three Georgia counties.
Read More...Analysis and Policy Reform Options for State and Local Governments
What state and local government leaders need to know to reform their property tax foreclosure systems after Tyler v. Hennepin County.
Read More...A Community Progress Report for Raton, New Mexico
This report outlines state and local policy and practice recommendations to tackle vacant and abandoned properties in Raton, NM.
Read More...Transforming Vacant Properties in Pennsylvania
Strategic plan prepared for the Tri-COG Land Bank (TCLB) by the Community Progress to assist TCLB in preparing a for its future achieving greater impact creating more equitable communities.
Read More...Vacant Land Stewardship Research Series
Stabilizing vacant lots through cleanups and regular maintenance can help to reduce the harms of unmaintained vacant land on mental and physical health.
Read More...Celebrating 10 Years of Land Banks in New York
This report, prepared for the New York Land Bank Association (NYLBA), documents and celebrates the remarkable rise and achievements of New York land banks.
Read More...Replicating Detroit's Make it Home Program
Analyzing cities that have the potential to implement a program similar to Detroit’s Make it Home, transitioning tenants to homeowners.
Read More...Improving Neighborhoods by Repurposing Vacant Lots
This one-page brief explains what you need to know about why taking care of vacant lots can improve Michigan neighborhoods.
Read More...Vacant Land Stewardship Research Series
This fact sheet summarizes key takeaways from recent studies exploring the community safety benefits associated with five common greening strategies.
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