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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWork Session- Vacant Lot Reuse Proposal for Reclaiming Vacant Lots for Community Use Danielle Hatch Sophia Brandstetter Ryan Kisow Tyler Voissem Environmental Studies 490: Senior Seminar Jim Feldman May 12, 2016 2 Executive Summary The City of Oshkosh currently has 28 city-owned and maintained vacant lots. These are mostly unused sites of demolished homes or odd shaped side lots. In accordance with the City of Oshkosh Sustainability Plan, we are proposing the creation of community green spaces and neighborhood gardens on available vacant lots. Our example site proposal is on Spruce Street and serves as a template for future project proposals. We intend for this proposal to be a cost effective way of contributing to a more sustainable city. Community gardens and green spaces are proven to greatly improve neighborhood aesthetics, quality of life, social cohesion, and environmental health as a whole. Therefore, this proposal could be utilized throughout the city of Oshkosh to remediate a variety of vacant lots. Background Community green spaces like the one we are proposing have been proven to have many social benefits including crime reduction, increased social cohesion, and the reduction of childhood poverty and obesity. The sustainability of future cities depends on a balance of the environment, society, and economy. Community gardening is one way of strengthening all three pillars by promoting local food production, and healthy lifestyles. The reality of climate change presents unpredictable future challenges which communities must be ready to face. By bringing together members of the Oshkosh community, our proposal will help to strengthen the city's ability to adapt to a changing climate while increasing quality of life and overall environmental health. Childhood Poverty Research has linked limited access of healthy food with childhood poverty, reduced health of citizens, and social injustice. Although the Oshkosh Farmers Market has improved 3 availability of healthy foods, it is not the lone solution to fighting childhood poverty in a Oshkosh. To effectively resolve these two social injustices, the city should provide opportunities for local adults and children to learn how to grow and harvest their own food through local workshops on vacant lots. Social justice is the first issue which should be addressed when creating a sustainable city, to ensure community health and connectivity. A sustainable city should encompass social justice, environmental benefits, and economic security. Research concludes that the most effective ways to alleviate childhood poverty is to engage psychologists, local authorities, and nonprofit organizations with the local community. The combination of these groups would ensure that children are given ample opportunities to engage with their community, improve mental health, and reside in a political atmosphere which prioritizes their needs. Our group’s proposal is to create a community green space which includes an area for learning, relaxing, and socializing. Social Resilience to Climate Change As the global climate begins to undergo drastic changes, communities are faced with unpredictable future scenarios. According to urban sociologist Eric Klinenberg, community gardens and urban agriculture are among the most effective methods of increasing social cohesion and building strong community connections. These connections, according to Klinenberg, are the backbone of a society which holds it together when disaster strikes. (Klinenberg, 2013) In addition to the social benefits to be gained from community gardens, local food production provides a sense of economic stability and food security to communities facing climate changes. Community green spaces have the potential to tie together neighborhoods, creating a sense of strength and ability to adapt to a changing climate. 4 Childhood Obesity Leading scholars in the field of obesity and access to healthy foods have found higher rates of obesity in areas that lack access to healthy fresh food. Our proposed project would both provide access to healthy foods that are high in nutrition requirements as well as providing physical exercise. Both access to healthy foods as well as working outside would both help to combat the epidemic of obesity in relation to having access to fresh food. Providing a healthy and safe place would help facilitate the growth of individuals through spreading the health benefits of spending time outside away from the screens. Our nation, as well as on a global level is becoming more wrapped up in spending time away from others. This leads to lack of community involvement and a sense of place. Research has shown when lack of community involvement and having a sense of place are present, physical and mental health will start to degenerate. Individuals can gain a sense of belonging when they adopt a thought process that focuses on the health of the community as a whole rather than focusing on themselves. For these reasons, among others, is why our proposed project would actively help engage the community and facilitate personal and community growth. The city of Oshkosh through the help of Growing Oshkosh has put raised garden beds in the elementary schools throughout the city of Oshkosh. This has helped to promote healthy eating and education on healthy and sustainable life. Many of Oshkosh’s elementary schools lie within a food desert, meaning there is limited access to healthy food; our proposal would provide the opportunity to learn about the benefits of healthy food and be a source to obtain it. Crime Reduction and Safety A major problem that arises in communities with many vacant lots is crime. While Oshkosh’s vacant lots are scattered and mostly in populated residential areas, this proposal can 5 be transferred to almost any vacant lot. Vacant lots, while owned by the city, should remain empty with no action on them, due to liability. Vacant lots in many cities in the United States have been used for sports fields, overflow parking space, play spaces for children, and so on (Kremer, Hamstead, & McPhearson). They also have been known to be spaces for dumping garbage and meeting spaces for crime-related activities. These latter activities, as well as overflow parking space, can put children, and even adults, at a safety risk for getting injured. The city can also be liable for accidents on the lot. By creating a public green space under a Conditional Use Permit, the city will not be held liable, and the guardians of the lot can ensure the safety of the lot. In a 2012 study done by Garvin, Cannuscio, and Branas, lots that were cleared of trash, undesirable weeds and trash, and were supervised to rid unwanted behavior, were designed with the neighborhood in mind to create a community space. These spaces flourished and had less incidents of crime. Neighbors reported feeling much safer than they felt previously to the planned lot. This is significant for the 1614 Spruce Street lot because in a mostly residential with a high percentage of homeowners, safety and a sense of community are held in the highest regard. As there has not been an alarmingly high rate of crime in this neighborhood, this plan can be implemented in any neighborhood, especially areas with higher crime rates. With the installation of this community green space lot, planned workshops and a community safe space can lessen possible crime, safety issues and give the neighborhood more sense of community togetherness. Recommendations Our proposal is to create a community green space for community engagement and education. Oshkosh has an abundance of vacant lots, thus, our proposed plan could be 6 implemented at various sites. The specific location we are studying is 1614 Spruce Street. This lot was chosen due to its proximity to local schools, churches, and potentially engaged neighbors. This location is suitable to serve as a space for community workshops and engagement in urban agriculture. The proposed plan within this space is to construct eight six by three feet raised garden beds to promote healthy food consumption. See figure 1. Secondly, we would incorporate an open learning space for local organizations and neighbors to teach the Oshkosh community a variety of topics including but not limited to, growing vegetables, cooking, and composting. This would accomplish the Oshkosh Sustainability Plan’s local food goals. For increased learning and engagement, a little library will be added to the space’s entrance. A little library is a mailbox-like structure which allows neighbors to leave or take a book. Residents are encouraged to utilize the space to read at the Leopold benches and picnic table on the lot. Lastly, a wooden archway will be added to this beautiful natural space to welcome neighbors. This space would give the neighbors the opportunity to guide the future of this space according to the changing interests of the neighborhood. The implementation of this proposed plan would bring together three parties including the City of Oshkosh, Growing Oshkosh, and local residents. The plan will be operating under a Conditional Use Permit provided by the City of Oshkosh which will give our group the liability and license to implement this project. Growing Oshkosh is a local nonprofit urban farm which emphasizes education and utilizes urban agriculture to build a stronger community. This organization would supply a foundation to begin an outlet for the project’s goals. Dani Stolley and Jenn Sattler have offered Growing Oshkosh to provide the initial and continued construction and maintenance, in addition to offering educational workshops. According to the Neighborhood Survey we conducted, responses displayed strong interest in community garden involvement. 7 Neighbors would be responsible for marketing workshops and general maintenance and supervision. Costs of the project would be supplied by community grants and donations. Stakeholder Identification We have identified three stakeholder groups as the most important to the startup and continuing of this vacant lot: the City of Oshkosh, Spruce Street neighbors, and Growing Oshkosh. These parties play an integral role in the creation of this lot. The City of Oshkosh is currently responsible for the maintenance costs, possible sale of the lot, and liability of the activities on the lot. By issuing a Conditional Use Permit, they rid themselves of liability and the maintenance costs. They can revoke the permit at any time, if the conditions in which the submitter of the permit agreed upon are not met. The Spruce Street neighbors have showed interest in a community green space. We issued a survey asking a few main questions. A 12% response rate indicated that many neighbors were interested in what was happening in their community. The questions asked included: ● How connected are you with your neighborhood community? ● How interested are you in creating an outlet to interact within your neighborhood community? ● Do you think there are enough local opportunities for your children to play and learn outside of the classroom? ● Would you be willing to contribute to a community garden in your neighborhood? ● Would you be interested in attending a community workshop with a variety of topics? ● If you have any additional comments or concerns, please elaborate. 8 The majority of responses noted being somewhat connected to their neighborhood community, very interested in creating an outlet to interact within their neighborhood community, few opportunities for children to play and learn outside the classroom, willingness to contribute to the community garden, and interest in attending community workshops. Positive comments included ● “We would love to see a green space put into the empty lot on Spruce, there are many kids in the area and often they roam around on their bikes in the street and on the sidewalks. It would so great to have a place that they could all meet up and play sports or socialize. This is a very important topic for me as my son is 9 years old and we live very close to the empty lot on Spruce.” ● “I think it should be fixed because then kids like me can play there with their friends. Right now I cannot go there because my auntie says it is not safe.” ● “Use that plot!! A community garden is a great place to learn, for both children and adults.” One response indicated disinterest in the project. One response read, ● “My property resides right next to the property in question. My main concerns are that I would have to deal with children, Adults and or pets running around my yard. I am also concerned with the amount of noise that would be generated while the project is in construction and after.I feel that there are plenty of other places for people to go and participate in workshops. If your answer to this is we would put up a fence, that is not a good enough answer. I don't think that this is a very good idea.” Although only one neighbor showed resistance towards our proposal, we would need to take his comments into consideration. Once approved by the city, a neighborhood meeting would be beneficial for everyone to create a set of ideals and duties to carry out this plan successfully, 9 and to compromise on any issues that may arise. We would utilize education and outreach to address any neighborhood concerns for this proposal. This neighborhood does not have a neighborhood association, so this project could be a stepping stone towards creating a successful, cohesive neighborhood with better relations. Once the Conditional Use Permit is granted, the neighbors and Growing Oshkosh would have split duties for maintenance and functioning of the space. The last important stakeholder for this proposal would be Growing Oshkosh. Growing Oshkosh implements community gardens in schools, and their urban farm to grow local food, as well as creating a medium for community workshops to learn about topics related to sustainability. Growing Oshkosh has offered their resources to help construct the proposed plans on the lot, coordinate maintenance with the neighborhoods, and provide workshops with a variety of topics relating to sustainability. Some of the workshops may include rain barrel construction, mushroom growing and identification, basic gardening skills, implementing local food in recipes, kids crafts, daytime summer workshops for kids, native plant identification and use, Leopold bench construction, and so on. Growing Oshkosh has experience with writing grants, so they could provide assistance in applying for funds. Their generous support shows their continuing interest in bettering our community for a sustainable future. These three stakeholders all have varied ideas and responsibilities in the startup and continuation of this community green space. These stakeholders have not had strong relations in the past, if at all. This would be a new experience for the neighborhood to interact with the city officials to create this space. Growing Oshkosh has never worked within this neighborhood, however some of the neighbors may have attended a Growing Oshkosh workshop previously. With integration during the startup, stakeholders will need to come together to discuss funding, 10 shared duties, and continued plans and workshops. Viewpoints may differ during the continuation of these plans. Because this proposal is designed to better the neighborhood, viewpoints may differ if the neighbors have disagreements in what the future of the space may include or not include. These viewpoints can be bridged with neighborhood meetings including those interested in the garden, the Growing Oshkosh staff, and attention to what was proposed in the Conditional Use Permit. All duties will be shared between Growing Oshkosh and the neighbors to create a shared space that will benefit not only the Spruce Street neighborhood but the greater Oshkosh community. Benchmarking The city of Milwaukee has more than three thousand vacant lots. The combinations of local nonprofit organizations, local politicians and community members have begun a variety of reclamation projects. Some of the actors include the City of Milwaukee’s Office of Sustainability, Growing Power, and Walnut Way Conservation Corporation. The lots in Milwaukee have been utilized for art galleries, food forests, outdoor classrooms, community gardens, and other community oriented projects. Projects were created to enhance and create social interactions, recreation, and teaching opportunities. Since city vacant lots are maintained and funded by the city, once Milwaukee lots are reclaimed, this responsibility is transferred to the permit owner. Secondly, the city of Youngstown, Ohio has both a similar population and median income to the city of Oshkosh. Youngstown also over 2,000 vacant lots, including privately owned lots and small parcels of land located between developments. The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation engages residents and volunteers to repurpose vacant lots into community gardens, native planting sites, storm water management infrastructure, and other productive projects. They have created six community gardens, seventeen native planting 11 sites, and multiple pocket parks. Both of these cities have found successful results including, crime reduction, reduced city costs, property value stabilization, improved community health and sense of place. These cases represent that it is both necessary and feasible to engage the community in educational workshops and benefit from a neighborhood green space. If projects similar to Milwaukee and Youngstown were implemented at a number of Oshkosh vacant lots the city would develop a more connected, resilient community. Costs The total cost for the initial implementation of the project is $1,345. We hope to obtain this amount from the Oshkosh Community Foundation’s Community Impact Grant as well as donations from local businesses and community members. Appendix 2 displays the specific projections of the initial costs for this project. The City of Oshkosh would have economic savings through the repurposing of this lot in maintenance fees. The City of Oshkosh spends $136.60 annually on the maintenance of the Spruce Street lot. Maintenance costs of our proposed project would include snow removal, lawn cutting, water, sewer, fire, and storm payments. Growing Oshkosh and neighbors would be held accountable for cutting the lawn and shoveling snow as needed. After the implementation of this project, our continued maintenance costs would be paid for through the Community Impact Grant and community donations. To help with the maintenance costs and continuing equipment needs, a garden party and raffle fundraiser could be held annually. Therefore, the costs and maintenance of the Spruce Street lot for the city would be alleviated and the actors in this project would absorb the costs. 12 Barriers As with any great idea, problems still arise that need to be addressed if we and our community are to put our project into action. We sent out a survey to receive neighborhood input in order to gain a sense of how engaged residents surrounding the vacant lot are currently in their neighborhood and how engaged they are in their community. We, through our survey, also desired to learn how excited residents are about our proposed plan in their neighborhood and to see how many residents would be willing to actively participate in putting our idea into action. Some barriers we found that were expressed by resident of the neighborhood was fear of increased traffic on their street, which they felt would bring unwanted attention to their yard. Other neighbors in the vicinity of the vacant lot were concerned with the amount of noise as well as pets that they felt might disrupt the peace. We received harsh negative input from the resident of the neighborhood that has the lot next door to the vacant lot. This is going to be a difficult barrier because we predict any action that goes underway this neighbor to the lot will put up resistance in order to attempt to halt the project that would increase the betterment of the community and facilitate growth across the spectrum of what constitutes wellbeing. As a group we will persevere and endure any of the negative feedback we receive. As we move forward with this project the negative feedback we receive is only going to fuel us to fight for what is best for the neighborhood and Earth as a whole. Oshkosh has a high rate of free and reduced lunch at their schools. This brings up the question of how nutritious the food they consume is while away from school. Fresh and food with high nutritional content tends to be more expensive than food with lower nutritional content. The problem relates back to poverty because if the households these kids live in do not have money for nutritious foods the children will not have access to the foods they need for healthy growth 13 and development. Our raised garden beds and educational workshops will provide the children with the food and education required to recognize how essential healthy food and community engagement are to the betterment of the community. Other barriers that exist for our proposed project are reliant on stakeholders. The members of Growing Oshkosh are busy working at their farm and leading community workshops. Funding and receiving grants to implement our project are also barriers we must be conscious of. If we cannot receive the outside help, regardless of if we have the neighborhood support, will make turning our idea into a reality increasingly difficult. Significance for Sustainability The creation of community gardens and green spaces on vacant lots fulfills a number of the goals laid out in the local food chapter of the Oshkosh Sustainability Plan. This project will positively impact all three pillars of sustainability by improving the physical environment, social cohesion, and economic security. Local food production is a key element of a healthy environment, society, and economy. By increasing the amount of food produced locally, the city of Oshkosh can greatly reduce its carbon footprint by becoming more self-sustaining and less reliant on imports. Additionally, urban green spaces have been proven to absorb co2, purify both air and water, and lessen the urban heat island issue. The improvement of the environmental quality of Oshkosh includes neighborhood aesthetics. As the city’s large number of older wooden homes become too costly to maintain, demolitions will open up new vacant lots for the implementation neighborhood gardens and green spaces. As stated in the Oshkosh Sustainability Plan, converting unused or blighted property into neighborhood garden spaces will improve overall 14 neighborhood beauty. A more aesthetically pleasing neighborhood environment will potentially increase property values and attract new homeowners. Shared neighborhood green spaces will boost the social cohesion of the city by providing residents with a sense of ownership and connection to both their natural environment and neighbors. The social benefits of community green space begin with the health of local residents who can benefit from healthy local food and the physical activity of gardening. Studies have shown that participants in community gardens report a higher quality of life and a higher level of social interaction than non-participants. Additionally, the implementation of community gardens has also been proven to reduce crime rates and increase social cohesion. A cohesive community is a very important aspect of a sustainable city. As the reality of global climate change begins to set in, communities are faced with an unpredictable future. A socially cohesive community is the strongest asset that a city can have in the face of unpredictable future environmental conditions. In addition to increasing home values and potential future buyers, local food production on community gardens have the potential to create a source of economic security for low income families and individuals. While the garden proposed in this project is not entirely focussed on economic production, future models could greatly expand into much more productive systems. Local food production reduces the need for imports and increases the sustainability of the local food economy. Conclusion Converting vacant lots in Oshkosh into community gardens is a step towards creating a more sustainable city. By increasing environmental, economic, and social health, community gardens are proven to be effective promoters of a higher quality of life and neighborhood 15 aesthetics. Our proposed project on Spruce Street serves as an example for future projects in the city. By implementing green spaces in the city of Oshkosh, we can begin taking steps towards sustainable lifestyles in the city. 16 Appendix Appendix 1-Site plan 17 Appendix 2- Proposed Costs 18 Appendix 3- Conditional Use Permit 19 20 Conditional Use Permit Submittal Requirements Narrative of the Proposed Development Plan ● Lot is currently vacant ● Our proposal is to create a community garden with space for workshops ● Structures include: mulch path, little library, picnic table, 8 6’x3’ raised garden beds, archway, and storage shed o Will promote the goal of the space to create a space for neighbor relaxation ● Responsibilities are taken care of by approximately 5 employees per day o Including Growing Oshkosh employees and volunteers and residents ● Effects on neighboring properties include minimal daytime noise and sidewalk pedestrian traffic ● Minimal pedestrian traffic including residents and workers ● See proposal for reclaiming vacant lots for community use ● See site plan included in proposal paper 21 Works Cited Garvin, E. C., C. C. Cannuscio, and C. C. Branas. "Greening Vacant Lots to Reduce Violent Crime: A Randomised Controlled Trial." Injury Prevention 19.3 (2012): 198-203. Web. Klinenberg, Eric. "Adaptation - The New Yorker." The New Yorker. N.p., 7 Jan. 2013. Web. Kremer, Peleg, Zoé A. Hamstead, and Timon Mcphearson. "A Social–ecological Assessment of Vacant Lots in New York City." Landscape and Urban Planning 120 (2013): 218-33. Web. Spruce Street Neighbors. "Spruce Street Community Survey." Survey by Danielle Hatch, Sophia Brandstetter, Tyler Voissem, and Ryan Kisow. Spruce Street Community Survey. Survey Monkey, 17 Mar. 2016. Web.