Vacant Property Revitalization

Over the past year, MVRPC - in partnership with COUNTY CORP and the Greater Dayton Mayors & Managers Association - has led an effort to identify vacant property/housing issues and explore mechanisms to improve the Region’s capacity to revitalize its large inventory of vacant and abandoned property.

Prelude

In early 2003, MVRPC was approached by a number of member communities to address regional housing issues such as property maintenance, foreclosures, abandonment and neighborhood decline. A roundtable and workshop yielded several issues.

Vacant Properties Assessment

In 2004, MVRPC - in partnership with COUNTY CORP and the Greater Dayton Mayors and Managers Association (MMA) - brought in a team of national experts assembled by the National Vacant Properties Campaign to perform a strategic policy assessment of the region's existing vacant property programs and policies. This assessment had six primary goals and objectives.

Reinventing Dayton Report

The final assessment report, Reinventing Dayton and the Miami Valley Through Vacant Property Revitalization and Reclamation (Adobe Acrobat Reader:1.53 MB), stresses that Dayton and the Miami Valley confront a new set of challenges today - the convergence of complex socioeconomic problems, such as global shifts in the manufacturing economy, changing demographics, and the uneven distribution of regional growth. The Region has developed a number of good and innovative programs to meet these challenges, but a holistic approach is needed to make sure these efforts do not work at cross-purposes. The National Vacant Properties Campaign has recommended seven fundamental policy steps as a blueprint for success.

  1. Define and Document the Region's Vacant Property Impacts and Obstacles (Adobe Acrobat Reader:26 kb)
  2. Leverage and Build upon Existing Assets and Initiatives (Adobe Acrobat Reader:66 kb)
  3. Develop a Regional Real Property Information System and a Network of Neighborhood Revitalization Plans (Adobe Acrobat Reader:45 kb)
  4. Use Rehabilitation and Housing Assistance Resources to Prevent and Stabilize Substandard and Vacant Properties within the Region's Core Communities (Adobe Acrobat Reader:51 kb)
  5. Develop Comprehensive Code Enforcement Strategies to Prevent and Stabilize Substandard and Vacant Properties within the Region's Core Communities (Adobe Acrobat Reader:55 kb)
  6. Establish a Land Bank or Urban Land Trust to Reclaim Abandoned Properties (Adobe Acrobat Reader:42 kb)
  7. Create a Comprehensive Vision and Policy Action Agenda to Guide Regional Development (Adobe Acrobat Reader:54 kb)

Ohio Vacant Properties Forum

Having been a major player in America's industrial revolution, Ohio is now faced with adapting itself to changing economic and demographic conditions. Part of this adaptation process is renewing vacant and abandoned properties. A number of groups, both public and private, have been working to renew these residential and commercial properties over the years. While there have been some successes, many efforts within the State have faced a discouraging uphill battle. These groups have recently come together and decided to hold a forum to highlight the widespread issue of vacant properties in Ohio.

On October 24th and 25th, attend the first state-wide vacant properties forum in Ohio!

Network with attendees from throughout Ohio, representing experts and practitioners from the full range of constituencies acting to improve vacant property reclamation including state, county and local officials, financial institutions, developers, title companies, and non-profit organizations.

Learn from panels, discussion groups, and workshops about the causes and extent of abandonment throughout Ohio; tools and best practices for preventing and addressing abandonment and blight; and statutory reforms to facilitate reuse and redevelopment.

Develop a vacant property policy agenda for Ohio , focusing on aspects of prevention, rehabilitation, acquisition, management, sustainable reuse, and land use planning.

Keynote speakers include Myron Orfield of the University of Minnesota Law School.

The forum will be held at the:
Hyatt on Capitol Square
75 E. State Street
Columbus, Ohio 43215

For more information, including registration forms, visit www.vacantproperties.org/ohio.html or contact Mary Helen Petrus at the Cleveland Neighborhood Development Coalition, (216)928-8100.

Convening Co-sponsors:

Cleveland Neighborhood Development Coalition
Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission
National Vacant Properties Campaign

Land Bank Presentation at 2005 Miami Valley Planning & Zoning Workshop

MVRPC brought in Dan Kildee, Treasurer of Genesee County, Michigan, for a workshop session featuring land banking.  Mr. Kildee's PowerPoint presentation highlighted similarities between Dayton and Flint, Michigan, Michigan's new land bank law and the Genesee County Land Bank.