Boyle Heights: Redeveloping Vacant and Underutilized Sites

Many project proponents, including the parks departments with the City and County,did not have the capacity or funding to acquire new sites for parks. Land acquisition for parks and green space needs to be mobilized by political will and community support,  which can be challenging to achieve by both cities and community organizations.  General lack of funding that can support the purchase of land from private owners for use as a public park or open space is also a barrier. Especially if the site is contaminated, extra costs for due diligence, including Environmental Site Assessment, boundary survey, and existing lease reviews may accumulate costs.

• Establish a land bank authority to help assemble parcels of land and legally transfer them to non-profits for development. Land banks are “public authorities or non-profit organizations created to acquire, hold, manage, and sometimes redevelop property in order to return these properties to productive use to meet community goals” (Local Housing Solutions). 

• Identify public/private partnerships, including affordable housing developers and school districts looking to add more park space and community amenities and strategize shared-use agreements. Shared or joint-use agreements occur “when two or more private or public entities agree to open indoor or outdoor space for community use” (LA County). 

• Formalize a stewardship or volunteer program for parks to offset liability and cost concerns related to operations and maintenance. 

• Plan temporary interventions that incorporate short-term art uses, such as art installations, public events, and gathering spaces, to serve as a transition tool on vacant sites and/or buildings. Inspired by the Pop Up City initiative in Cleveland, these temporary projects shine light on the value and potential of vacant lots and can help catalyze redevelopment.   

• Engage with key partners within the community (schools, places of worship, business owners, etc.) that may support park redevelopment. Promesa Boyle Heights in this project team brought invaluable local knowledge and relationships to the effort. Non-profit organizations such as the LA Neighborhood Land Trust can also provide resources to help with site acquisition and realize new parks with community input. 

Logan Heights, San Diego, California

H.A.C.E.R. (Helping Achieve Community Empowerment & Revitalization) at the Gilliam Family Community Garden and Park is a community-led movement that transformed a vacant plot of land into a lively and vibrant community gathering space. Located in the Logan Heights neighborhood, there was once a scarcity of public parks in the area and little investment in meaningful public spaces.  

Avital Aboody worked in Logan Heights as a BAME Community Development Corporation staffer at the time and had been working for this community for years before she started looking for vacant lots to transform into green space, parks, and/or community areas. There were many vacant parcels in the area, but one specifically situated next to two restaurants and in the heart of the neighborhood caught her attention. She embarked on a journey to track down the parcel property owner. She eventually learned from the county assessor's office that it was in a trust and privately owned. With only an address, she proceeded to drop a letter in the mail as her next step. She received a call from Derrik Gilliam, who moved out of the neighborhood but owns the lot through family. He and his family supported her idea - and so, H.A.C.E.R. at the Gilliam Family Community Garden and Park came to life.  

• Revitalizing sites that are already located in key community focus areas lead to higher community interest and participation 

• High levels of community input and involvement lead to a more informed development process 

• Landowners can appreciate the opportunity to provide a community amenity and contribute to their legacy

Chicago, Illinois

The Harambee Community Garden is another example of a once vacant piece of land that was transformed into a community asset. This garden is in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, surrounded by churches, a fire station, senior home, town hall, library, and a high school. Before it became the large community garden that serves many users to this day, it was a vacant lot filled with trash with little community interest. Community member and now co-founder of the garden, Seamus Ford, saw the large amount of unused space and decided to create community gardens to provide a sustainable and environmentally friendly addition to his community. The land was owned by a neighbor, and he received permission to transform the grass lot into the garden. The garden has been a shared asset in the Chicago community for the last 13 years. Churches surrounding the area conducted Sunday School classes in the garden, the firehouse supplied water, the local library introduced after-school programming, and senior home residents also participated in activities.  

• Developing programming that builds on surrounding uses of the site can encourage higher levels of use, communal upkeep, environmental stewardship, and community involvement 

• Leverage existing community relationships and partnerships at all stages of the planning and programming process, including operations and maintenance  

Philidelphia, Pennsylvania

The mayor’s office of Philadelphia reports that there are approximately 40,000 vacant lots within the city, and among those lots 74% are privately owned. Changing those conditions have been a goal through the City’s Redevelopment authority as well as Land Management policies within their   Philadelphia2035   Citywide Vision Plan. Policies have been set forth to “reuse vacant land and structures in innovative ways”, and encourage the adaptation of vacant buildings and sites and the support of turning vacant land into expanded parks and recreation opportunities (Land Management, Vacant Land and Structures, 3.1.3). 

 The Zoning Code was updated in 2012 to bring the city closer to its healthy communities and sustainability goals, as mentioned in the  Greenworks  initiative. The new code now recognizes urban agriculture as a legitimate land use designation and made gardening and farming permissible activities on most land within the city. As mentioned in the Philadelphia Zoning code, “...the code official shall work cooperatively with other city and city-related agencies on any plans for the acquisition, disposition and re-use of vacant lots including, but not limited to: community development, housing, neighborhood gardening, landscaping, play areas, side yards, or any other legal uses” (PM-110.4). 

• Updating the zoning code and providing initiatives can encourage and catalyze the redevelopment of vacant land, as well as establishing urban agriculture as a legitimate land use designation to help streamline this kind of development

• There are four different Urban Agriculture Zoning types recognized in Philadelphia: Community Gardens, Market or Community-Supported Farm, Horticulture Nurseries and Greenhouses, and Animal Husbandry. For more information on specific requirements and what’s allowed, visit  Philadelphia Zoning Laws for Urban Farming & Community Gardening (groundedinphilly.org)  or the Philidephia2035 general plan.

• Informed guidance and community directed policy, processes, and programs are vital for the development of urban agriculture sites and work towards sustaining sites for future generations

Chicago, Illinos

Prepared by the Department of Planning and Development, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and community members, the Green Healthy Neighborhoods Plan is being used as a 10-to-20-year strategy in maximizing the use of vacant land and other neighborhood resources. 

The strategies listed in the plan support urban agriculture, active and passive recreation, new industrial activity, housing preservation, and a variety of cultural resources within its planning area to address the challenges of blight and vacant space.

Approximately 50% of vacant lots are City-owned, and the City’s  Adjacent Neighbors Land Acquistion program  enables owners of existing residential buildings to acquire parcels with large discounts, where their  Large Lots Program  allows the transfer of these lots to residents for $1. The program began transferring lots in early 2015 and continued annual sales through 2019, enabling residents to have greater control over their land and neighborhood. Building on large lot parcels is allowed, and most owners have maintained them as private or shared community space with gardens, trees, and activity areas. 

Major findings from the programs and their implementation process were published in the  American Planning Association's Planning Magazine . This included:  

1. Large Lots were observed to have a significant increase in condition in the year after purchase with improvements continuing over the next four years. At the same time, unsold city-owned lots saw a decline in conditions.  
2. The Large Lot Program sells to both owners who live and don’t live on the block – upon observation, and condition-care was similar to both.  
3. A focus group was evaluated and mentioned that owning these large lots provided some control over deterring undesirable conditions and activity, actually working to promote positive gathering space for activities like community gardening, play space for children, and overall community open space.  
4.  The sense of ownership for these lots translated into areas outside of the major lot vicinity, and continued care beyond their lots. The city also incentivized this by developing financial and educational resources to create community-oriented spaces for their lots.    
5. Those who had these lots had purposeful attachment to them and provided a multi-generational interest in these sites. 

• Developing programs that enable owners of already existing residential buildings to acquire parcels with large discounts allows community members to have greater control over their land and higher ownership of their neighborhood 

• The development of this program allows city-owned vacant land to be disposed efficiently, creates wealth in communities through raising home values and potential for owners to sell after five years, and builds vital community focus areas