LEWISTON – City leaders hope to have 35 city-owned lots back in private hands and generating tax revenue by April 1.

The city took over most of the lots in lieu of unpaid property taxes, according to City Administrator Jim Bennett, and most have been in the city’s hands for years. All told, they represent about $1 million in assessed property value.

“That’s about $27,000 in property taxes,” Bennett said. “We want that stuff off of our inventory to see if something can be developed there.”

The biggest parcel is at 76 Cote St., with almost 15 acres of undeveloped land valued at $296,000. That would generate about $8,000 in property taxes right away. Other notable parcels include:

• Eight acres bordering the Maine Turnpike, at 142 Goddard Road.

• 14.3 acres of undeveloped land next to the Androscoggin River, north of Tall Pines. That property would generate $1,149 in property taxes.

• Two lots, each less than an acre, along the Androscoggin River behind L.L. Bean’s Chapel Street building and Redlon and Johnson’s Middle Street building. Together, they would generate about $2,282 in property taxes.

• A 30,000-square-foot lot at Lisbon and Cedar streets. That would generate more than $500 in new property taxes as it is.

The entire list will go to the city Planning Board at its next meeting. Board members will review each property and recommend a course of action. Then, Bennett said, the city is going to request development proposals from the public for each lot.

“We’re not interested in selling them outright,” Bennett said. “It’s not a bid situation. We want to see what developers want to do with the property and why they want it. That way, if they want to do something the community doesn’t like, we won’t let it go.”

About one-third of the list is city-owned properties, Bennett said. The city started with a complete list of city-owned land and then eliminated property already being used – including schools, parks, the City Building and library.

Bennett said staff also eliminated tax-acquired apartments and houses downtown from the list. “We don’t want to do anything with those until we have developed an overall approach for housing downtown,” Bennett said.

City Councilors also eliminated city-owned lots clustered around No Name Pond and Garcelon Bog from the list. Those will be preserved for open space, Bennett said.

He hopes to have development proposals by April 1, when the city assessor sets Lewiston’s property values for the coming year.

“Some of them, like the 14 acres along Tall Pines, are sizable lots,” Bennett said. “There’s a lot that could be done with those. Others will probably only be interesting to the abutters. We don’t know if this will make anything happen, but it’ll be interesting to see.”