Doing research on grants throughout the first half of the year I found a lot of funding available for “land trusts”. As a 501c3 Mount Clare Community Council can be uniquely equipped to help deal with vacants and abandoned property throughout our community by entering an agreement with the city to become a receiver for targeted vacant property and lots. In combination with Governor’s Moore Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initative / BVRI we can work to see a lot of the blight and ruined buildings and lots around us returned to use in interests of the community as a whole.
In conversation with community members and the executive committee, I propose we draft and submit a proposal to the city as part of the Impact Investment plan and our forthcoming community plan with the Department of Planning to further the concepts of community leaders prior (mainly Pete Hammen) that happened years ago:
Stage one of this plan would be twofold - our first and greatest priority is obtaining site control of vacant lots across Mount Clare, either that a neighbor wants to directly acquire to consolidate with the property and make into a yard, or that we as a charity could get funding to maintain and develop for community benefit - think playgrounds, pavilions, urban agriculture, gardens, even community livestock like quail or goats.
Here are a selection of contiguous lots we could acquire, and what they could be used for:
- 230-240 Calhoun, 1400-1424 McHenry, 215 Norris - our current primary community garden. Site acquisition allows us to get water access, get electrical power on site, and install permanent facilities like a gazebo, pavillion, permanent shed, and more. This would also prevent us from having the Pigtown Community Garden situation where a hostile landlord could kick us off the land.
- 201-207 Stricker - the Fire Fighters memorial. The city already owns most of these lots. Putting them in community association control avoids the city accidentally selling these lots for other uses, and lets us improve the memorial and parklet with on site power and water access.
- 227 - 233 Stricker - already fenced off and used as a yard by neighbors. Site control and plot consolidation opens the lots up for more diverse uses.
- 239 & 241 Stricker - Wendell Shore lives at 237 1/2 next to these lots and already fenced them off. Site control would allow him to consolidate his property to include the lots hes already using as a de-facto yard.
- 1399 Ramsay & 400 Calhoun - used by neighbor at 402 Calhoun as a yard already. Site control and consolidation.
- 412-418 Calhoun - possible expansion for Black Yield Institute across the street, or could be added to the Traci Atkins park footprint. If 407-413 Norris are ever demolished 401-413 Norris could also be incorporated into the park.
- 1414-1426 Ramsay - if 351 Stricker were returned to use as a shop provides a lot of real estate expansion for it, or could be outdoor dining, or an accessory use prepared by the community for Traci Atkins like a cookout pavilion.
- 300 Norris - 328 Norris & 329 - 337 Stricker - there are still a bunch of blighted vacants standing, but all could be demolished to create a sizable plot between Stricker and Norris to be used as pasture for community livestock. There is no owner occupancy anywhere on this block north of 332 Norris - may make sense to demolish all of 301-337 Stricker and 1417-1427 McHenry as well with renter relocation, especially if we can get them buy back the block / homeownership incentives and subsidies to own their own homes in the area.
- 314-318 Stricker & 1503 & 1505 McHenry - neighbors on Stricker have expressed interest in acquiring and maintaining as yard space.
- 205-217 Parish & 218 & 220 Stricker - another large contiguous inner block of lots. Could seek residents that want to maintain or readapt. Good possible urban farm.
- 321 - 327 Parish - contiguous block of lots that are frequently illegally dumped, would make a good microfarm or even parking lot if needed.
- 1521-1531 Cole - the Cole St garden. Has been sold repeatedly, and is at risk to suffer the same fate as the Pigtown community garden.
- 201 & 203 Gilmor - one of our parklets. Site control lets us get electrical for lighting and cameras and water access. Can also then use as a full fledged community garden. Developer who rehabbed 205 is interested in acquiring to build housing on.
- 304 & 306 Gilmor - got these fenced off with SWP. Can maintain for surrounding neighbors off the alley as a farm or garden or possible playground location for kids.
- 213-219 Vincent - currently used for parking by neighbors, could put up a parking garage proper.
- 1613 McHenry - neighbor at 1611 has expressed interest in acquiring. Already uses as side yard.
- 1614 & 1616 McHenry - neighbor at 1618 has expressed interest in acquiring as side yard.
- 230-238 Mount - used as parking lots generally, would be an awesome parklet location.
- 1716-1722 McHenry - another opportune parklet. Almost all houses on Bruce St are vacant, if the whole row got demolished 202-224 Bruce could be added for a space large enough for livestock pasture.
- 301-355 Fulton, 302-336 Bruce, 1704-1724 Ramsay, 1733-1737 McHenry - this entire block is almost entirely abandoned, If the whole thing were demolished this could be an amazing full-blown secondary park to Traci Atkins. One thing the community council could do is have a access-controlled dog park here so dogs could be off leash, its a lot of land.
The other half of this first phase would be to put our vacant and abandoned corner stores into receivership to the Community Council, and then the Community Council applying for BVRI and BRNI funding to stabilize and find interested parties to reopen the shops for uses the community votes to support. We would prioritize offering to existing residents to get these commercial buildings as a combined home ownership and business opportunity. Here is the list of current VBN historic corner stores in Mount Clare:
- 201 Calhoun - last sold 2018, vbn 2018
- 200 Stricker - last sold at auction in 2019, vbn 2023 (permits pulled 25-4-23)
- 238 Stricker - bought by Make Space, hopefully new restaurant soon!
- 301 Stricker - last sold 2023, vbn 2023 (looked rehabbed, no permits?)
- 346 Stricker - currently Beale Street Puppets
- 351 Stricker - last sold 1993, vbn 2009
- 237 Gilmor - last sold 2019, vbn 2024
- 1611 Pratt - last sold 2022, vbn 2022
These 8 properties represent opportunities for our neighbors to start businesses, or for us to attract new neighbors that want to open businesses and make our community more vibrant. Nobody else but us, the residents of Mount Clare, have the incentive to try to bring these shops back into use - but for us, they represent so much squandered opportunity to make our community unique and vibrant.
Thanks.