A long-dormant City of Pittsburgh program allowing property owners to purchase neighboring vacant lots at steep discounts is set to soon return.

The Side Yard Sale program allowed Pittsburgh property owners to purchase adjacent city-owned lots for a sticker price of around $200. Its goal was to get the vacant lots off the city’s plate and back on the tax rolls, while providing a way for residents to acquire green space and yards.

City Council voted to close down the program two years ago, after debating how best to prevent out-of-town absentee owners from using it to snap up adjacent lots at discounted prices. Councilors couldn’t agree on the best limits to put on the program, and voted to pause it while they reevaluated.

Council gave unanimous preliminary approval Wednesday for a new version of the program, which requires purchasers to be owner-occupants of their property to be eligible to buy a side yard. It also raises the purchase price from $200 to $1,500. Officials said the new price will ensure that the city government doesn’t lose money on real estate and legal fees while selling the properties.

“We lost a lot of money on those sales” at the $200 price, said City Finance Director Jennifer Gula. “So this way, at least we’re breaking even.”

The purchases will likely include additional fees for deed transfer taxes and other costs. But Gula said the new program will include a calculator to give purchasers a more realistic look at the fees they will owe if they buy a side yard.

“We had a lot of complaints from individuals purchasing property thinking they were getting something for $200 and then find out, when they close, they have to pay deed transfer tax,” Gula said. Giving a better sense of the price up front, she noted, would allow potential buyers to “make a smart decision as to whether or not they could afford to do that or not — ahead of time, rather than at the very end.”

South Side City Councilor Bob Charland sponsored the bill. He said getting the side yard program running again would help deal with a glut of vacant lots.

“This is incredibly important for my district and for districts like mine, where we have all this vacant property that is otherwise basically unusable,” he said. “My district is very overgrown. Any way that we can get a little bit better at the maintenance is important.”

Charland had originally opposed the idea of limiting the program to owner-occupants. He had wanted to give landlords the opportunity to purchase the properties, which would increase the number of people who could help take the properties off the city’s hands. On Tuesday, he said he’d like to expand the program beyond owner-occupants in the future.

“I know there’s a backlog in my district of properties that we’d like to get through first, and I’d like to explore this again further,” he said.

Councilor Deb Gross said she was happy with the new version of the program.

“I think this is a nice balance,” Gross said, adding herself as a cosponsor to the bill. She said the program was due for an update because the city’s real estate market has shifted a lot over recent decades.

“This is great news for a district like mine. We have an enormous amount of vacant property, and without the side lot, we have no way to really get rid of it.” said Councilor Kim Salinetro, who represents the city’s West End. “I think it was a big loss to not have this last year.”

Lots must be 5,000 square feet or smaller to qualify for the program, and the purchases come with deed restrictions: The lots can’t be used for residential structures, but could be used for something like a pool or garden.

Council is set to hold a final vote on the program next week.