With so much space, so few options -- Detroit's vast vacant lots are a burden

By John Gallagher

Detroit Free Press Business Writer

If vacant lots were painted red, an aerial view of Detroit would look like a bad case of the measles. There is so much empty land today within Detroit's 139 square miles -- land slowly returning to nature with no buildings -- the city of Paris could fit inside. If all that land were gathered into football fields, Detroit could host 25,000 simultaneous games.

Many people, from Mayor Dave Bing's Detroit Works planners to everyday residents, have been thinking of new uses. But as Detroit Works moves toward a final report later this year, a stark reality is clear. There's so little market demand that much of the vacant land will remain empty for years, or even decades, as unproductive and untaxed, contributing nothing to the city's recovery.

"My blunt answer is we don't, at this stage, have an answer for the scale of vacant land that we have here in the city of Detroit," said Robin Boyle, chairman of the department of urban planning at Wayne State University.

This reality could change if civic leaders and Detroiters at all levels devise a new strategy. There are lots of ideas: mega-fields of solar panels or restoring Detroit's many buried streams for storm water retention fields and recreation.

Joan Moss, director of the nonprofit Church of the Messiah Housing Corp. on the city's east side, sees the empty spaces not as a problem but as an opportunity. "This is an exciting time," she said. "We almost have a blank slate."

Continued at: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2012204010467

http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.d...s-are-a-burden

See "squatters' rights" thread for an interesting take on this...

See also: Stephen Henderson: Detroit is missing out by hoarding its land

http://www.freep.com/article/2012040...text%7COpinion

Henderson is right that the city often mismanages the land that it owns. But most of his comments are off-the-mark. There's plenty of properties in the hands of private property owners. Many of them don't pay their taxes and the idea that there's some windfall of taxes that would accrue to the city by selling off the city-owned lots is laughable. He also has a strange idea of supply and demand. The value of property in the city isn't going to be helped by flooding the market with thousands of vacant lots. I don't think there's any easy answers to the problem of the vacant land in the city but Henderson's ideas are mostly wrongheaded.

Quote:

---

There is so much empty land today within Detroit's 139 square miles -- land slowly returning to nature with no buildings -- the city of Paris could fit inside.

---

This puts a whole new twist on the old moniker of Detroit as "The Paris of the West / Midwest."

I have sometimes argued Detroit was a city that was bombed during the Cold War. The idea being that Detroit by being engaged in creating civilian products increasingly became and out payer of tax dollars with less and less coming back. Meanwhile, the lucrative defense industries scooped up the best minds in electrical and other engineering fields while defeated countries like Japan and Germany had their best minds available for their civilian industries. This advantage lead to the creation of superior products, the resulting decline of Detroit and the setting off the tumbling dominoes.

If that admittedly very broad assertion were to hold up the red dot map above displays where the bombs landed.

The city could generate revenue from empty property if they had some type of slumlord tax.

The more complaining that goes on about what a "burden" all this "vacant land" is, the more I think this is orchestrated by a few parties who are trying to get some relief from the political system, such as DTE.

The fact is it would cost billions to create "dead zones" within the city and very little savings would be achieved.

The real places to think about fencing off and closing down would be the giant empty hulks in the exurbs.

The regional contraction will one day, maybe in a century, repopulate Detroit. And that natural repopulation could be stymied by idiotic decisions made today, in the name of this trumped-up "emergency."

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by begingri

By John Gallagher

Detroit Free Press Business Writer

If vacant lots were painted red, an aerial view of Detroit would look like a bad case of the measles. There is so much empty land today within Detroit's 139 square miles -- land slowly returning to nature with no buildings -- the city of Paris could fit inside. If all that land were gathered into football fields, Detroit could host 25,000 simultaneous games.

Many people, from Mayor Dave Bing's Detroit Works planners to everyday residents, have been thinking of new uses. But as Detroit Works moves toward a final report later this year, a stark reality is clear. There's so little market demand that much of the vacant land will remain empty for years, or even decades, as unproductive and untaxed, contributing nothing to the city's recovery.

"My blunt answer is we don't, at this stage, have an answer for the scale of vacant land that we have here in the city of Detroit," said Robin Boyle, chairman of the department of urban planning at Wayne State University.

This reality could change if civic leaders and Detroiters at all levels devise a new strategy. There are lots of ideas: mega-fields of solar panels or restoring Detroit's many buried streams for storm water retention fields and recreation.

Joan Moss, director of the nonprofit Church of the Messiah Housing Corp. on the city's east side, sees the empty spaces not as a problem but as an opportunity. "This is an exciting time," she said. "We almost have a blank slate."

Continued at: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...=2012204010467

http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.d...s-are-a-burden

---

Well, if anything, it looks like downtown is really humming along.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

The more complaining that goes on about what a "burden" all this "vacant land" is, the more I think this is orchestrated by a few parties who are trying to get some relief from the political system, such as DTE.

The fact is it would cost billions to create "dead zones" within the city and very little savings would be achieved.

The real places to think about fencing off and closing down would be the giant empty hulks in the exurbs.

The regional contraction will one day, maybe in a century, repopulate Detroit. And that natural repopulation could be stymied by idiotic decisions made today, in the name of this trumped-up "emergency."

---

I couldn't agree more with this. Although I think the repopulation will happen sooner than that, and even faster in those areas with some historic housing stock left among the vacant lots.

The City of Detroit needs to designate areas that are to be shut down. Tell people in those areas that they have a year to move into areas that the city wants repopulated. Tell folks that after that year the city will no longer provide services -street lights, garbage pick up, water and sewage, police, fire, and EMS services. If they want to stay in their homes that's fine and they won't have to pay property taxes. The city would then shut down these areas physically by putting cement blocks along various streets to cut-down on vehicle traffic [[think one-way out subdivision exits) and shut off street lights and water and sewage.

Those with property will still own their property. No one could argue that their property was taking away from them. Also, no one could argue that they were denied city services because they are no longer paying for them through property taxes. The true diehards could stay where they are and fend for themselves.

This to me is the best solution to the problem of having so much vacant land and revitalizing core areas of the city. The only other viable plan would be to unincorporate the city, create a new one with new boudaries, and let the county figure out what to do with the unincorporated land.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by royce

The City of Detroit needs to designate areas that are to be shut down. Tell people in those areas that they have a year to move into areas that the city wants repopulated. Tell folks that after that year the city will no longer provide services -street lights, garbage pick up, water and sewage, police, fire, and EMS services. If they want to stay in their homes that's fine and they won't have to pay property taxes. The city would then shut down these areas physically by putting cement blocks along various streets to cut-down on vehicle traffic [[think one-way out subdivision exits) and shut off street lights and water and sewage.

Those with property will still own their property. No one could argue that their property was taking away from them. Also, no one could argue that they were denied city services because they are no longer paying for them through property taxes. The true diehards could stay where they are and fend for themselves.

This to me is the best solution to the problem of having so much vacant land and revitalizing core areas of the city. The only other viable plan would be to unincorporate the city, create a new one with new boudaries, and let the county figure out what to do with the unincorporated land.

---

Then we could bring in Mad Max to run the Outer Limits or Kirk Russell to Escape From Detroit!

This is why I think tearing down the fair grounds is comical. As if vacant land is at a premium in Detroit. Why tear down something of significance to make way for a doomed from the start project? But thats the story around here. Try your malls on some of the bombed out blocks where nobody cares!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by One Shot

This is why I think tearing down the fair grounds is comical. As if vacant land is at a premium in Detroit. Why tear down something of significance to make way for a doomed from the start project? But thats the story around here. Try your malls on some of the bombed out blocks where nobody cares!

---

Land may be plentiful, but developments require contiguous parcels. That's likely not plentiful. And post-Kelo, one holdout can stop your project by asking more than you can justify paying.