Kansas City to take a hard look at how it handles its 17,000 vacant properties

Kansas City is set to take another hard look at the ongoing problem of vacant buildings and land across the city and coordinate steps to get empty properties back to use for housing, businesses or amenities.

The city’s finance committee advanced a proposal on Tuesday to launch a new “vacant land activation initiative.” If approved by the full City Council, officials across city departments and other organizations would work together to draw up ways, both short-term and long-term, to address the problem while getting various efforts on the same page.

Vacant land could be a property with nothing on it or one that is underused, such as an empty storefront or a house no one lives in. The city estimates there are more than 17,000 vacant parcels across KC, including about 3,500 properties owned by the city’s land bank and the city-controlled homesteading authority.

While the challenge of vacant land negatively impacts neighborhoods, economic development and quality of life for residents, according to the proposed initiative, it also presents an opportunity to redevelop and revitalize the community.

The initiative, which has already drawn neighborhood support, is being sponsored by council member Melissa Patterson Hazley, Third District At-Large, and Mayor Quinton Lucas.

A more coordinated approach to vacant land in Kansas City

Right now, city departments and outside groups are disconnected as they work on vacant land issues, leading to a fragmented approach and missed opportunities, city documents say.

The new city initiative would seek a more coordinated approach and include outreach to neighborhoods and residents for their input on how to use vacant land.

It would call on the city to track the number of vacant properties, streamline the process to sell city-owned vacant land for future use and look at regulations that could be roadblocks. Officials would also consider ways to enforce the rules on property owners who are out of compliance with city code and target developers who could fill vacant land.

Within about three months, city staff would need to create an inventory of vacant properties indicating the ownership status; identify barriers that could make it harder for owners to use vacant land again; recommend geographic areas or types of vacant land to prioritize; make administrative changes; and work on other short-term goals.

Within about six months, staff would need to consider funding tools to deal with blight and redevelop vacant land; create a plan for collaboration between city departments; and draw up code changes that the City Council could consider.

The initiative will consider actions for the long-term as well.

Northeast neighborhoods supportive of vacant land initiative

Ahead of its possible passage by the City Council, some neighborhoods have already signaled their support of the new vacant land initiative.

A coalition of neighborhoods in the Historic Northeast — including Lykins, Sheffield, Indian Mound, Pendleton Heights, Scarritt, Independence Plaza, Paseo West and Columbus Park — signed a letter endorsing the proposal.

“Vacant buildings and lots are a hazard to public safety and a barrier to community revitalization. It is time for a new, collaborative approach,” the letter says. “This resolution is a realistic beginning to a complex challenge.”

The letter says some owners, such as someone who recently inherited a home, need resources to help them fix up their properties, not punitive measures or delays that could make that work harder.

But there are other vacant properties owned by investors, who may not be local, as part of a real estate portfolio and allow their buildings to deteriorate, burn or collapse — causing blight, reducing affordable housing, inviting crime and discouraging investment, the letter says.

“Any solution should not hand over properties from one class of investors to another. We do not want corporate or institutional control,” the letter says. “We wish to reinvigorate these historic communities with new neighbors and small businesses.”

Sean O’Byrne, executive director of the Downtown Council, told the committee that there is a series of blighted buildings downtown that are causing an economic drain and offsetting development.

“Good-hearted people, good-hearted citizens that have gone in here and invested hundreds of millions of dollars only to have a blighted and vacant parcel in the area beside them,” he said. “It’s really unfair.”

There’s a cost to being a property owner in KC, O’Byrne said: being a good neighbor.

City officials have taken other big steps over the past year to work on reducing the amount of vacant land in the city, including new rules that can delay demolition of buildings that might have historic significance and a program to speed up the rebuilding of homes on empty lots in the Washington-Wheatley neighborhood.