A new Hartford task force aims to come up with detailed plans by the close of this year to develop more than 160 troublesome vacant lots owned by the city.
These empty properties are often overgrown, and attract crime and blight, Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam said. He’s seen mattresses, tires and couches pile up on vacant lots within a block of his home in the Frog Hollow neighborhood.
“I am tired of driving through my city and seeing vacant lots like this,” Arulampalam said Tuesday, announcing the taskforce from a vacant, one-tenth acre lot in the city’s Clay Arsenal neighborhood. “And what it communicates to residents and neighborhoods is a lack of concern and care from City Hall. Today we are doing something about it.”
The new task force will be co-chaired by Corporation Counsel Jonathan Harding and Hartford Director of Development Services Jeff Auker, highlighting its importance to Arulampalam.
The group draws from municipal leadership and staff, along with the Metropolitan District Commission, University of Connecticut and others.
This group will inventory the vacant lots held by the city, and come up with development alternatives for them, including, in some cases, preliminary design of what structures will work on the site. That could be single family homes or apartments. In some cases, the best possible use might be urban agriculture or community garden, organizers said.
Harding said the task force aims to have a preliminary plan by early fall, and something more polished before the close of this year.
Part of the task force’s work will be determining the best way to connect vacant lots with developers and individuals interested in building on them, Arulampalam said.
The city will line up incentives to help realize redevelopment of the properties, Arulampalam said. Late last year, Arulampalam announced his administration would commit $6.5 million to housing programs, including first-time homebuyer assistance, development initiatives and other programs aimed at improving the city’s low-income home ownership ratio.
Annette Gaynor, founder of Hartford-based housing developer DNA Investment Holdings, praised the city-wide focus of Arulampalam’s new task force. This will help strengthen buy-in and avoid a competition for resources, she said.
“You’ll be able to pull together something that is sustainable, not just from a five-year span but something that truly involves what the community stands for,” Gaynor said.
