Suggestion and concept by Peter Kokh, Walnut Hill homeowner

In the Central City of Milwaukee, with home ownership in many neighborhoods only about 25%, and with Absentee Landlord properties prevailing, abandoned, empty, boarded up houses are all too common. The City of Milwaukee razes them as soon as the titles are clear.

The result is a vacant lot. The City has three programs at best to promote reuse of these lots:

• a vacant lot next to an adjacent owner-occupied property can be adopted by that properties owner for a nominal fee. The new owner maintains the new lot as part of the adjacent home's premises, fencing it in accordingly. Some of these added side yard spaces are no ore than additional lawn space. Others are specially landscaped. The result in either case is a great improvement over a no man's land filled with trash.
• Where there is no adjacent homeowner, a vacant lot stretch can be turned into a fenced community garden. We have two such improved spaces in the Walnut Hill Neighborhood.
  • East side of 1700 block of North 35th Street
  • North side of 2800 block of West Vliet Street
• Stretches of vacant lots are reserved as potential future new home sites

  Another option, either for a homeowner who hopes to adopt an adjacent property soon to become vacant, or for a community organization wanting to build a floral garden space in the spot of a house about to be razed, and already flanked by vacant lots, is the Sunken Floral Garden. In either case, this project requires pre-approval of the City and involvement of a cooperative demolition contractor.

  Here is the basic idea.

  Most homes have brick foundations in Milwaukee's inner city. Some have cement block, often split-faced.

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  Both City and Contractor agree to remove the house above the foundation. If there is a basement drain, the floor is covered with a layer of gravel, then soil, to a level 3 or 4 feet below the prevailing lot line. Finally, a layer of top soil is put over this so that the finished level is sunken 2 or 3 feet. If the basement floor is dirt, the gravel layer is unnecessary. If it is cement with no drain, the floor may have to be fractured to some degree with a jack hammer.

  The foundation protruding above the original ground level is cut back and capped about a foot or two high.

  • 

  An opening is made at one or two places, and steps are built down to the sunken level within the foundation perimeter. This area is landscaped, with greenery, flowers, small trees, water features, outdoor sculpture, seating -- at the owner's or community group's discretion.

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  If there is a small hill or slope to the front lawn, as is often the case, in place of the steps, a grade level cut can be made to enter the sunken garden directly from the front sidewalk.

  

  Attractive options are many. The individual homeowner family or a community group should have wide scope to express creativity.

  Careful foreplanning and secured agreements with both the city and a cooperative demolition contractor are essential for this option. As to initial expense, trading rubble infill for gardenable dirt may involve some, but there will be a mitigating trade-off.

  A reasonable time limit should be set for the homeowner or community group to make the new sunken garden feature presentable, with more time to get it fully landscaped.

  The sunken area should not be just grass, to look like a "ruin" that nature has reclaimed.

  Constructive comments and suggestions for other uses for vacant lots are welcome.

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