Mill Hill Vacant Lot

It began with a question: How might a vacant lot be transformed from a liability to an asset for the Mill Hill neighborhood?

In Fall 2024, The Bendectine Society of Baltimore City and the Neighborhood Design Center formed a partnership to reimagine a community green space in the Mill Hill neighborhood of Baltimore city. The project focused on transforming a vacant lot owned by the Society into a more welcoming and vibrant public space.

Over four months, the Neighborhood Design Center conducted a site visit, held internal meetings with the Society team members, and facilitated a pop-up engagement at St. Benedict’s Fall Fest to gather community input.

Feedback

NDC attended the October 2024 Fall Fest at St. Benedict Church to gather community input
on the design of the vacant lot. Below is the key feedback we received from residents:

Our Considerations

Next Steps

We provided examples of short term and long term features, planting recommendations, and grant resources to help secure funding and pave a path to implementation.

This project’s NDC volunteers were Bryan McKnight and Jacob Taswell, with NDC staff Angelica Arias. Funding came from Community Design Works CDBG funded through Prince George’s County DHCD.