Planners working on a blueprint for future Detroit development say it's a mistake to keep auctioning off the city's abandoned and vacant property for pittances in back property taxes.

The purchasers are often speculators less interested in creating a unified vision for dealing with vacant Detroit land estimated to be the size of Paris, if assembled into one large plot.

The Wayne County treasurer began the largest-ever auction of tax-foreclosed land on Friday, offering homes, buildings and vacant lots seized for back property taxes.

The 21,449 parcels is up from just 2,000 a few years ago, a reflection of the Great Recession and mortgage foreclosure crisis. The vast majority -- 19,056 parcels, or 89% -- are inside the city of Detroit and many, if not most, are vacant residential lots.

Created by Mayor Dave Bing, Detroit Works has been drafting a massive blueprint for dealing with many of Detroit's major problems, including what to do with vacant, unproductive land.

The team estimates that of the roughly 150,000 vacant parcels in the city, various units of government own about 65,000, or around 40%. The rest remains in private hands.

Some Detroit Works planners want to shut down or severely modify future auctions. In the past, some parcels auctioned by the county saw no improvements and did nothing to help the city.

Full story at: http://www.freep.com/article/2012091...lled-a-mistake