Did you realize city land, and how it’s being utilized, is an environmental concern?

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), changes in land use occur constantly and at many scales. The EPA says land utilization can have specific and cumulative effects on air and water quality, watershed function, generation of waste, extent and quality of wildlife habitat, climate, and human health.

In Cleveland, different land use actions have potential effects on the environment and human health, with land development and agricultural activities being two primary focus areas with a wide variety of potential effects.

At a recent Global Shapers virtual panel discussion to examine vacant land use in the urban core, the panel voiced concerns about Cleveland’s plans for vacant lots.

The discussion was moderated by member Ibukan Ode-Martin, a Cleveland Foundation Public Service Fellow.

“In Cleveland, vacant lots have been an ongoing issue whether that is health-wise, safety-wise, or climate-wise,” says Ode-Martin.

Ode-Martin, Cleveland Foundation Public Service FellowThe panel consisted of Cleveland-based experts in land utilization: Isaac Robb, vice president of planning, research and urban projects with the Western Rese; Randell McShepard, co-founder of Rid-All Green Partnership; Xavier Bey, senior assistant city planner with the Cleveland Planning Commission (Zoning and Technology); and Angela Sayles, director of business development for Little Africa Food Co.

The Western Reserve Land Conservancy is the largest land trust in Ohio. Serving Northeast Ohio, the upper right quadrant of the state, the mission is to provide the people of the region with essential natural assets through land conservation and restoration.

Robb, a native of Oregon, has been in Cleveland for seven years. The first project he worked on with Western Reserve Land Conservancy was accessing Cleveland’s property inventory, looking at over 160,000 parcels, which he says the organization is updating to have real-time data on land use in the city.

Robb explains that one parcel of land in Cleveland is equivalent to 0.10 acres. He says there are 3,700 acres of vacant land in Cleveland.

“We consider that to be an incredible opportunity for community ownership of this asset,” he says. “But it’s also something we really have to contend with from providing public services. The city of Cleveland, as we know, has a lot of fiscal constraints and a lot of needs that are trying to be addressed simultaneously.”

Management planning

Robb says simply mowing grass on vacant lots—as the city currently does—is neither a sustainable solution nor is it an economic vitality that can empower communities and build wealth.

Therefore, he begs the question, “What can managing vacant land look like?”

“What managing vacant land can look like really depends on scale and the location of it,” says Robb. “So we really like to take a proactive… and a really multi-faceted approach to it, rather it be planting a single tree, converting an old landfill into a park or creating a community garden with a neighborhood or religious institution…. We can turn it into an great opportunity and asset for the residents of our city.”

Isaac Robb, Western Reserve Land ConservancyThe type of opportunity and assets Robb speaks of is evidenced by the work of the Rid-All Green Partnership. Over the last 11 years, this entity has expanded from 1.3 acres to 18 acres in the Central neighborhood, at a location once known as the “Forgotten Triangle.”

Rid-All Green Partnership now has, among other things, an EPA-licensed composting facility, two greenhouses, six hoop houses, a fish farm, restaurant and has recently been named the site of the Cleveland tree nursery as part of the Cleveland Tree Coalition.

“I wrestle with vacant land. I try to conquer vacant land,” says McShepard, explaining how Rid-All seeks to repurpose land primarily for agricultural purposes.

He says he uses words like “battling” and “challenging” when talking about vacant land use, because it is an ongoing challenge.

“Even if you just choose to cut the grass, that’s difficult for communities and individuals,” he explains. “We still contend with dumping. It’s gotten better over the years, but [unexpectedly] a couch will show up.”

McShepard explains that working in this space has a lot to do with being proud of vacant lots— their promise, what they could mean, and how they could convert communities—how every time a tree is planted or a community garden is started, you’re planting hope.

“It’s just a matter of seizing the opportunity that there are so many vacant lots, also so many opportunities to affect change and make Cleveland a much more vibrant city,” he says.

Little Africa Food Co-op’s Sayles emphasizes that vacant land can be used as a local food system.

Angela Sayles, Little Africa Food Co-Op“My goal around vacant lots is hearing the voice of the community,” says Sayles, who also works with the Sustainable Cleveland Vital Neighborhoods team, where she created a neighborhood training curriculum for residents who are converting greenspace and vacant lots into controlled. She also works with Cleveland Lots’ Long-Term Stewardship and Supports working group.

Additionally, Sayles acts as a liaison between the Black community and stakeholders who are gardening and farming locally, nationally, and internationally with local food systems in mind.

“We really are advocating for land ownership by residents and trying to put forth some attention on the fact that residents are creative, innovative and they do love their communities,” she says.

Sayles explains that some residents may have acquired land in the past but are unable to maintain ownership because they must enter into a lease agreement—sometimes for as long as five years—so the residents are investing without long-term ownership of the land.

“So, part of the work that I’m doing is creating a roadmap conducive to sustainability for the vacant lots and for the land, because the city’s argument is ‘maybe your project won’t live past the five years or maybe a big developer may come in and we need to repurpose that land for what’s titled economic development,” she says.

Community ownership

Sayles and her partners want to counter that, collaboratively, by making the case for the community and by trying to manage the land in an approach that doesn’t make the situation “community versus business.”

“Community is business,” she says. “It’s community business.”

She looks toward social enterprise models and teaches residents how to put forth proposals for vacant lots and land that would be sustainable so that they are able to win over some ownership of the land in their community.

Xavier Bay, Cleveland City Planning CommissionCleveland Planning Commission’s Bey is new to his position, but his passion for the environment helps him better understand sustainable development. His work involves zoning reviews and trying to usher in some type of development with the vacant lots that fits within the fabric of the neighborhood.

He also assists the public with accessing land data. He says the city of Cleveland owns 20,000 vacant parcels while the Cuyahoga County Land Bank owns 2,000.

“Something we’re trying to manage is how do we fill in the missing teeth of the neighborhood but also how do we incorporate more spaces for safety, play and practice like gardening,” he says.

McShepard points out that the city may be lacking an extensive vacant lot plan and strategy.

“I think because there is a lack of that sweeping, broad perspective on how vacant lots are used, it pretty much boils down to if the right person gets their hands on a lot,” he says. “They might do something wonderful.”

People, not politics

McShepard also says there are a lot of barriers to acquiring vacant lots in Cleveland, and interested parties must be “in it for the long haul.” He mentions how Rid-All Green Partnership has had a ‘whale of a time” acquiring lots.

“Some have come easier than others,” he says.

He goes on to explain how, ironically, this past October, Rid-All Green Partnership was closing on the 1.3 acres they started out with 11 years ago. “We ran into this problem when we first wanted to move in and establish this urban farm,” he says.

McShepard and his co-founders were told by the city’s zoning department that the property belonged to the Parks and Recreation department and it’s a “no-no” to touch it because there’s not enough vacant land.

Fortunately, because they had a plan to do something significant with the land, former Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson helped.

Randy McShepard, Rid-All Green PartnershipRid-All Green Partnership leased the land for $1 per year for four to five years.

“Then, once our farm started to get off the ground a bit, someone got the big idea that [we’re] doing well, rolling in the dough, so [we] should pay [our] fair share,” McShepard recalls. As a result, Rid-All ended up having to continue leasing the land.

“But, here’s where it gets tricky,” McShepard continues. “They then came back and said, ‘the land around the farm was actually light industrial.’ So, we had to pay a light industrial fee, which was much, much more expensive to lease.”

Rid-All paid $400 to $600 a month to lease the 1.3 acres, despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars invested into the land that, again, had been an illegal dumping site for years, or even decades.

“Not the average person, or organization, could fight that battle for those many years,” McShepard says.

He contends that a citywide strategy would make it easier for people to acquire land, and more collective work with support from the philanthropic community could help turn the land over to people who want to do good things with it.

“There’s a lot of moving parts,” he says. “But our community deserves to see these properties come back to life,”

Sayles identifies with Rid-All’s experience. “Land in Cleveland is political,” she says. “It’s a political process around these vacant lots.”

She says the bureaucracy, policies, and processes are all challenging. “[It’s] complex and not transparent or easy to understand for those wanting to acquire the land,” she says, pointing out that maintaining vacant lots costs the city.

“One thing that has come out of my work, I think can be looked at is really redefining and re-prioritizing economic development versus community development,” says Sayles.

She explains that there are two pathways in this city for land acquisition. “[The city] categorizes your project as either an economic development project or community development project.”

Sayles says the criteria for using these vacant lots depends on the path chosen. “Looking at community needs of land with the same lens of value to the community is another way to look at [solving] this, she says, “and not defining success as purely as financial or economic gain.”

Studies show the health benefits of living in close to green space, Sayles adds, saying, “There’s other benefits to the community and residents.”

Robb confirms the cost to maintain 20,000 vacant lots is high—he says the city spends about $5 million to mow and maintain those lots.

Studies show the health benefits of living in close proximity to green spaceHe questions that rationale, especially when there are respected community leaders taking interest in developing them, causing him to agree with Sayles’ point about the value put on community versus economic development.

“You have these vacant lots and land that are in neighborhoods that have been redlined. They have been experiencing predatory lending through the foreclosure crisis. And now, we’re saying the public sector is deeming that not selling land or not giving access to land is the best solution because [citizens] might not be able to maintain it?” says Rob.

He calls this a “really paternalistic approach” to these communities.

“There’s a lack of strategy. There’s a lack of disposition process. And there’s a lack of trust between our civic sector and our residents,” he says. “Not to mention, we’re spending $5 million dollars a year mowing grass in our city.”

Bey says barriers exist within land ownership and transfer when you’re looking at the city and county land bank as well as private lots.

“A lot of work that I’m destined to get into within this position is trying to understand why aren’t things working ‘this’ way, and really trying to encourage a different thought process [by] asking people I come across, in this new position, how is this more difficult for you or maybe what are updates that we make to our websites to make things navigable, for people to access to a lot of this information.”

He also points out the barrier of strategic rezonings and the need to update them.

“A lot of the barriers I run into are having a streamlined process,” says Bey, who constantly asks himself, “How can we make this process more streamlined and have this information open to the public and easier to understand?”

Bey says he believes there’s a lot that the city can do to empower and educate people in addition to getting community feedback.

Additional roles

Ode-Martin asked the panelists if there are more roles the city can play that’s needed and immediate.

“I think the city needs to catch up when you have a business that addresses a social good,” says Sayles. “The city needs to invite residents to the decision-making table and increase engagement in city plans.”

She also asks if any American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars went to fund any of these programs, issues, or food systems.

Rid-All Green Partnership seeks to repurpose land primarily for agricultural purposes“We're working on solving the land sovereignty, land ownership issue by creating an equitable land stewardship model that perhaps may look like a community land trust, that would have inclusive representation from the community residents,” she says.

“We would need cooperation from the city,” Sayles continues “But we are working on that as part of the Sustainable Cleveland Working Group.”

She adds that the city could create policies that are favorable and encourage local food systems to change. “Continuing the dialogue around these issues helps to bring attention and focus,” she says. “Keeping the conversation going is very impactful.”

Bey explains that his key role is staying on top of these site plans and strategic rezoning that needs to happen throughout the city as well as making sure everyone has due process and their ideas are heard. “A lot of times, policy can hold up those things,” he says.

Bey says he thinks partnerships are the main way Cleveland can overcome these challenges while Robb believes bringing environmental equity to fruition is an urgent issue.

“The city and local [Community Development Corporations] can do a great job at working together to educate residents,” McShepard adds, saying the vacant land question could become an economic development and placemaking project.

“It can be a community development project and lots of other things if we put all of the people in the room to sort of imagine what can come of these otherwise forgotten parcels of land.”

This is the sixth story in a 10-part series designed to highlight how an intergenerational model is helpful in moving the needle in so many aspects of Cleveland as well as to uplift narratives of resilience and impact within the environmental justice space. Upcoming stories will spotlight different organizations working on environmental justice and climate change as well as capture the intergenerational voices working on these issues.