Open Space

What is a vacant lot?

A vacant lot is a piece of property that has no buildings on it. In many cases, these lots once held houses, but as the buildings fell into disrepair, they were burned or demolished. Hartford currently has about 300 acres of vacant land.

Why are vacant lots a problem?

Vacant lots can present a variety of problems for the neighborhood:

Unsafe conditions for children and adults
Opportunities for illegal dumping of litter and other solid waste
Possible hazardous waste contamination, such as lead, cadmium, arsenic, and asbestos
Homes for rats
Wasted resources
Disruption of neighborhood's sense of community
Lowering of neighborhood property values
Increasing opportunities for crime (drug dealing, prostitution, hiding places for criminals)

Vacant lots are also an environmental justice issue, since there are more vacant lots in the city's poorer neighborhoods.

Productive use of space

Most vacant lots do not add value to Hartford neighborhoods, but they are potentially valuable resources to the community. The main goal of vacant lot policies is to move these lots into productive use.

Because each site is unique and each neighborhood has different needs, plans for vacant land need to be developed at the neighborhood level. Some examples of productive uses for vacant lots are:

Community gardens
Parks and playgrounds
New housing units
New businesses
Off street parking

What is Hartford doing about vacant lots?

EPA's Urban Environmental Initiatives Program worked with the Hartford Redevelopment Agency to develop a program that allows selected vacant lots to be transferred to local residents.
Hartford Areas Rally Together (HART) has helped to clean up vacant lots in three target communities.
ONE/CHANE (Organized North Easterners/Clay Hill and North End), in partnership with the Connecticut Prison Association and the Hartford Department of Public Works, developed three new community gardens.
The Citizens Research and Education Network (CREN), in cooperation with the Hartford Housing Authority, initiated a new community garden at the Dutch Point housing projects.
ONE/CHANE and the Knox Parks Foundation helped to establish Hartford Trees, an organization that will plant trees in urban areas in Hartford to commemorate community leaders.
Knox Parks Foundation in partnership with the City of Hartford, Quirk Middle Schools, The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CT DEP), and community organizations (South Arsenal Neighborhood Development Corporation (SAND), ONE/CHANE and House of Bread) turned a 1+ acre lead-contaminated vacant lot on Chestnut Street into a green space. It now includes resident community gardens, an outdoor environmental study area for the school and a vegetable garden for the soup kitchen. Trinity College students conducted a soil clean-up of the lead using special mustard plants ("phytoremediation").
Central Connecticut State University and ONE/CHANE completed a study of neighborhood pocket parks in North Hartford to document the social impact of community-based parks.
The CT DEP in partnership with Hartford Clean Cities Program and the Alternative Incarceration Program cleaned up more than 800 vacant lots in Hartford between 1995 and 2000.

Where can I go for additional information?