The city owns 12 lakefront acres, paid for with our taxes. A land trust could keep them in community hands, with residents deciding what goes there.
AlternativeWhat is a land trust?
99 yrsa typical land trust ground lease
A community land trust is a nonprofit, run by its community, that owns land for good and leases it. Buyers pay only for the building, so homes and shops cost less, now and for the next owner.
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They work across the country. Burlington, Vermont’s trust, started in 1984, sold homes for $169,000 on average in 2025, while market prices topped $500,000. Madison’s trust holds 69 homes and Milwaukee’s holds nine.
Not just homesBoston’s Dudley Neighbors rents seven affordable storefronts. Burlington’s new Post Apartments sit above a veterans’ post and a community justice center.
A 2022 national count found 314 land trusts and similar nonprofits in 46 states. Most are run by a board split three ways: people living on trust land, other neighbors and public officials.
Source: Grounded Solutions Network; Champlain Housing Trust, Annual Report 2025; Daily Cardinal, Feb. 10, 2026; WUWM, July 9, 2026; Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative; Lincoln Institute, 2022 land trust census.
AlternativeWhere would this go?
12 acresof lakefront land the city already owns
In 2021 St. Francis bought the Triangle with a $3.56 million loan backed by our property taxes, paid off by TID 5 through 2031. Until the land is sold, the city decides what gets built there and who it’s for.
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The plan on the table is 310 apartments, a grocery and retail, with a TIF incentive expected. The land moves under its own agreement, and that’s where a land trust can be written in.
The city might sayThe developer’s plan brings a grocery and the tax base TID 5 needs. Land trusts grow slowly: Milwaukee’s planned 41 homes by 2024 and had nine by mid-2026.
That’s why we start with land we ownBuying land is the hardest step. St. Francis already owns 12 acres.
The land cost $3,563,209. With 3% interest on the State Trust Fund loan, TID 5 pays $413,582 a year through 2031, $4.14 million in all.
Source: 2021 DOR PE-300 for TID 5; State Trust Fund loan, July 7, 2021; 2021 audit, p.47 (general obligation); letter of intent, July 10, 2025; Milwaukee CLT; WUWM, July 9, 2026; detailed PUD, Aug. 24, 2026.
AlternativeHow do you pay for it?
$34.4Mprojected from property without TID deals, 2008–2036
Homes and businesses that never got a TID deal are projected to pay $34.4 million into the city’s TIDs by 2036. Residents, not a few officials, should decide how it’s spent.
| Owned by neighbors | Owned by outside investors | |
|---|---|---|
| Bought with our taxes | Land | Sold to the developer |
| Neighbors buy shares | Money | Investors, plus a TIF incentive |
| One member, one vote | Votes | By money invested |
| Stays in St. Francis | Profit | Paid out to investors |
| Capped for good | Prices | Set by the market |
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Neighbors can own the buildings. In Traverse City, Michigan, 500 residents invested $1.3 million to launch Commongrounds, a $20 million co-op. Oakland’s housing co-op has raised $5.4 million in $1,000 shares.
The city might sayA developer brings its own money and takes the risk. Residents would have to raise it themselves.
With our money, tooThe developer’s letter of intent expects a TIF incentive, paid from our taxes. If we’re paying, we should own a share.
TID 5, which bought the Triangle and would pay any incentive, gets $19.9 million of the $34.4 million. Grants and low-interest loans fill the gap; Oakland’s co-op added nearly $25 million. Residents can work out the mix together.
Source: increment sources database (measured 2008–2025, model 2026–2036); letter of intent, July 10, 2025; Shelterforce, Sept. 9, 2025.
AlternativeWhat should the space be?
Land trusts usually build affordable homes, but this land could hold much more. Ultimately, the residents should contribute the ideas and deliberate on the best ones.
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We have the tools to bring everyone in. In one month in 2025, 7,890 residents of Bowling Green, Kentucky shared 3,940 ideas online for a 25-year plan. We can do the same on Connect St. Francis.
The city might sayThat’s why we elect a council: to weigh the options and decide.
Why not everyone?The council still votes. But when the whole community helps decide, we back the idea most people support, compromise where we can and build a stronger community.
Source: council videos June 16 and Oct. 14, 2026 (residents’ soil questions); MIT Technology Review, Apr. 15, 2025. See A Real Seat at the Table.
Questions, corrections, or a neighbor’s story about this? Talk about it on Connect St. Francis.