osg: home | smart growth | commissions | plan | resources | team

Greyfields Task Force

The Greyfields Task Force addresses issues of property abandonment and underutilization in areas with existing infrastructure. Abandonment and underutilization of properties in urban and older suburban communities has significant consequences for their economic vitality and quality of life. Although the problem is widespread the response to abandoned properties tend to be addressed in a piecemeal, disorganized fashion rather than with more comprehensive, strategic approaches.

The Greyfields Task Force addresses abandonment and reuse of properties that can potentially have great impact to a redevelopment effort. For example, many of us are aware of abandoned strip shopping centers along urban corridors that are contributing to the decline in property values and livability in many urban and older suburban communities. This task force will focus on ways to facilitate the development of such parcels by:

• Examining existing regulation regarding redevelopment of abandoned properties;
• Identifying properties that might be redeveloped and develop an inventory;
• Determining policies that could be used to encourage development of abandoned strip malls and other buildings;
• Identifying at least six sites that might serve as demonstration projects for this effort.

osg: home | smart growth | commissions | plan | resources | team