Land Bank, part I

I will share with you the Googlemaps link of the street view of our garden- BEFORE we planted a thing.  Before we even lived there.  When I post additional photos of the current set-up, you'll see where we are at now, and where we have come from.


Here's the situation-
The two lots next to our house are in the Land Bank.  All the parcels of land in the Land Bank once had houses on them (the ones next to us had a house 2 summers ago, and 7-8 years ago on the lot next to that).  Most Land Bank lots' history included a house foreclosed on it, or delinquent on its taxes for many years, and was left abandoned to rot for awhile (the city of Cleveland has over 10,000 houses foreclosed and abandoned like this, rotting to the ground, and waiting to be demolished).  This is where the Land Bank  comes in- They work to get the abandoned lots that once had houses on them back to the community to be re-purposed.  You send in a pretty simple application for the specific parcel, including a drawing of plans for the site, and then wait.

This is how the Cleveland Land Bank website describes the process:

Buildable parcels are available for use in home, garage, or commercial building construction. Non-buildable parcels can be used to add driveways, enlarge current adjacent properties, add fencing, gardening, or landscaping, or to expand parking facilities.  The cost of the lot is dependent on its size and usage:

1. Non-buildable lots are sold for $1 to adjacent property owners
2. Buildable lots for yard expansion are sold for $10 per foot
3. Buildable lots requested for new housing construction are sold for $100
4. Land bank lots acquired by religious institutions are sold for $100
5. Land bank lots acquired for interim uses such as community gardens are leased or licensed under negotiated terms and conditions at a nominal cost
6. Property for commercial use requires an appraisal to determine the sales price

The sale of all lots will also incur fees for recording costs.

As you may imagine- especially if you live on the East coast where this may seem unfathomable- to buy a big parcel of land for $1 or even just $100 is super cheap.  This was a big reason why we bought a place here in Cleveland (aside from the major part of Daniel having family & being from here), was because it was probably one of the few places in this country (that we have some connection to) that where we can actually afford to buy land!

We applied for the parcel next to our house as a non-building parcel (you can apply to buy the land bank parcel as a building parcel or non-building) the same month we moved into our house (March 2011).  We made several follow up calls over this year to see where things are at, a neighbor called the councilman Ken Johnson in support of us getting the lot, we got a letter of advocacy written by our neighborhood's Buckeye Community Development Corporation (CDC), and have just started gardening & using the space.  We checked in with the Land Bank while doing this, to make sure that by guerilla gardening we weren't hurting our chances of getting the parcel; the land bank said gardening on it would not hurt our chances, they just advised us not to do too much on it- invest too much- in case in the end we lose it.  

So, we went forward, because we felt we'd be doing a disservice to ourselves and our community to let that big sunny space sit like rubbly gravel collecting trash- instead of improving the soil, if not for vegetables, herbs and flowers- than at least for the worms, birds, and our eyes.

We have ordered several loads of soil since we moved in, and are in the process of making compost compost compost!  (Setting up a larger compost operation - we already have four compost bins at work -is one of the projects for this summer- but that's for another post.)  To add to that, this summer, the Environmental Health Watch, which is a city group working to make houses more green and supporting growing your own food, delivered a big load of soil (+ plants & seeds) for us to use on the lot next door.  We, obviously, have their support to be able to use this parcel for gardening.  

Then, just over a week ago, after 15 months of waiting, we got a response from the City of Cleveland (which I understand to be somewhat separate from the Land Bank-but they are connected and work together in city planning).  The letter was from the Real Estate Department, and told us we couldn't have the lot because they had plans for "in-fill housing."  Which is essentially what I call "fill-in" housing, houses that fill in the gaps on the street- wounds left from the foreclosure crisis. 

As you can imagine, having a house built onto the land next to us changes everything.  It changes the core reason as to why we bought this specific house in the first place.  So, things are a bit up in the air- as for the long-term situation.

That being said, the CDC and Environmental Earth Watch followed up with us quickly when they heard the response we received from the city and were quite surprised.  They said they had spoke with someone from the land bank before they had sent a support letter for us, and the Land Bank said that there were no plans for the lot.  I guess the City of Cleveland had a different idea?  

As it stands now, the City of Cleveland says that we can't own that lot because they want to build houses on it.  Meanwhile, the CDC and Environmental Health Watch are working "to see if they can fix things."  


I will keep you posted on this.  For now- we plant on as the sun continues to shine, and the plants continue to grow!


Faithfully,
Diana