Cleveland Vacant Land Opportunity Tool
Building Healthy & Resilient Cleveland Neighborhoods through Vacant Land Reuse
This is not another plan: The final outcome of this process will be a collaboratively-built, open-source database and planning tool to guide vacant land reuse projects and management strategies for the advancement of environmental justice, public health, and quality of life for Cleveland’s overburdened communities. We are calling this tool the Cleveland Vacant Land Opportunity Tool, CLEVLOT.
Through a grant from the US EPA’s Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement program, Western Reserve Land Conservancy is convening a team of stakeholders throughout the city to engage in a two-year planning and implementation process to unify vacant land reuse strategies around shared environmental justice and economic development goals.
Online Community
Forum
The NeoFarmers Google Group is a platform open to all for discussing Northeast Ohio farming.
Status: Live
Contact Directory
The Nourishing Power Directory is an open list of Cleveland residents promoting food justice and nutrition equity.
Status: Live
Land Use
Resource Guide
This spreadsheet catalogs resources for repurposing vacant land, organized by relevant stages.
Status: In Development
Digital Collections of
Plans and Reports
Cleveland Public Library's online archive will store CLEVLOT project materials, a resource for Cleveland's vacant land planning.
Status: In Development
Land Use Help Desk
Partnering with CPL, we're simplifying land use and addressing the digital gap by establishing in-library land use clinics
Status: Mon 1-2pm Virtual
Vacant Land
Survey Tool
Regrid assists in city vacant land planning by enabling users to survey each parcel and share neighborhood data.
Status: User Testing
User Friendly
Application Portal
We are partnering with the City of Cleveland Land Bank to launch a new digital application portal.
Status: In Development
User Friendly Land Bank
Programs
We're collaborating with the Cleveland Land Bank to expand land programs and clarify program choices, based on policy research.
Status: Research
Partnerships
CLEVLOT is a collaborative initiative, collectively built by a group of project partners and participants. The initiative is funded through an US EPA Grant administered by Western Reserve Land Conservancy, who works with cities and organizations throughout Ohio to revitalize urban neighborhoods through the reclamation and transformation of vacant properties, urban reforestation, code enforcement, vacant land reuse, and the creation of trails and high-quality green space.
Toolkit Development Process
1
CREATE SPACE
Invite partners to join in the creative process and communicate the basic goals of CLEVLOT. Outline a collaborative work plan.
2
DEFINE PROBLEM
Define parts of the problem more clearly. Understand different points of view on the problem by building empathy across different community members.
3
ORGANIZE IDEAS
Identify common parts of the problem. Brainstorm range of ideas to address the problems. Organize ideas into Working Groups.
4
PROTOTYPING
Each Working Group creates a prototype to better understand their problems, user test solutions, and reveal new insights.
5
CONNECT
Build on the insights from the Working Groups to connect complementary solutions. Coordinate with partners to add more parts of the toolkit.
6
SHARE & MONITOR
Share toolkit components and obtain feedback from the CLEVLOT process. Continue to monitor as partner organizations advance work.
Project Timeline
The grant timeline will be from February 2022 to February 2024. The first year, 2022, consisted of convening stakeholders and forming working groups to define the current issues with vacant land reuse. 2023 will see the development of pilot projects and developing a planning tool for more accessible and transparent vacant land reuse.
Our Purpose
The development of CLEVLOT will help unlock the potential of Cleveland's immense inventory of vacant parcels, many of which currently experience illegal dumping and pose a legitimate health and safety threat to residents. Creative reuse and management can turn vacant land into a tremendous public asset that not only stabilizes neighborhoods, but also addresses pressing environmental justice and public health challenges. Vacant land reuse can improve air and water quality, reduces illegal dumping of hazardous material, and increases access to greenspace to help create communities that are more resilient to climate change and airborne pandemics such as COVID-19.
Focus Area
This pilot initiative targets a 12-square mile footprint with a population of 66,000 people, serviced by our Project Partners Burten, Bell, Carr, Development, Inc. and Union-Miles Development: Central, Kinsman, Buckey-Woodhill, Buckeye-Shaker, Mount Pleasant, and Union Miles.
Learn more about the environmental justice concerns in this area.
